Book 7, Chapter 39: Anger

Within the core of Sky City:

Eternal Night sat down, completely drained of energy.

He had been defeated.

This battle had been between the two most powerful individuals of either race, but the outcome was exceptionally one-sided.

There was no fierce battle or exchange of blows. Eternal Night had been defeated with a single attack.

This attack, which contained immortal energy, had immediately shattered all of Eternal Night’s attacks.

“What technique is that?” Eternal Night asked as he gazed at Su Chen in shock.

“I call it immortal energy. It is distinct from divine power.” Su Chen then began to explain the principles of immortal energy to Eternal Night.

When Eternal Night heard this explanation, he was amazed. “I never knew that such an energy could even exist. Where does this energy come from?”

After a moment’s thought, Su Chen replied, “From lifesource.”

“Lifesource?”

“Yes!” Su Chen said with a confident nod. “The power of the G.o.ds is derived from Method Power. Immortal energy, however, comes directly from an individual’s lifesource. At least, that’s how I understand it. Both the outside environment and one’s body are treasures. It was just that, in the past, we were deceived by the grandiose nature of the world around us and never tried to unlock the potential contained within ourselves. Now, a ray of light has finally dawned on me.”

When Eternal Night heard this, he fell deep into thought for a moment before asking, “Could the Harpies possess this power as well?”

“I don’t know.” Su Chen shrugged. “We will only know after a Harpy tries to cultivate it.”

Interestingly enough, Su Chen hadn’t killed Eternal Night outright. Instead, after the battle, they had begun to converse with each other as if they were long lost friends.

Even so, neither Eternal Night nor Su Chen found this to be strange.

They were very similar people, and both of them carried great ambitions and a mutual understanding of the other. Even if one defeated the other, they would still respect a worthy opponent. For this reason alone, Su Chen wouldn’t grow high and mighty over victory, and neither would Eternal Night feel indignant about his loss.

Such a relations.h.i.+p was quite rare and hard to find.

Upon hearing Su Chen’s words, Eternal Night smiled bitterly. “It seems that we Harpies will never have such an opportunity.”

“That might not be so,” Su Chen said cryptically.

“What?” Eternal Night was stunned by his words and turned around to gaze intently at Su Chen.

Su Chen continued, “I said, it might not be impossible for the Harpies to cultivate this new energy. You already know that I research everything with the intention of making it broadly applicable to everyone. I have never harbored the selfish idea of h.o.a.rding everything that I’ve discovered for my personal benefit.”

Eternal Night’s coldly interrupted, “You know that that’s not what I’m asking about.”

Su Chen chuckled. “Did you think that I was going to kill off every single Harpy? If you were the winner in this war, what would you do?”

Eternal Night fell silent, still staring intently at Su Chen. Su Chen did likewise.

The two of them stared at each other for quite some time before Eternal Night finally said, “If I won, then I wouldn’t kill all of the humans. I would capture and enslave them, just like what we did to the Craftsmen, the Metalskins, the Stoneskins, and the Moonkin. They would become servants for me to use as I please...... However, don’t you dare even think about making the Harpies your slaves!”

Eternal Night began to yell as he glared at Su Chen.

There was no grat.i.tude, only anger and hatred.

This was the att.i.tude of a ruler. He would rather die than become someone else’s servant.

But even if he could make that choice, the other Harpies couldn’t.

Su Chen didn’t bother replying. Instead, he remained silent and only continued to stare intently at Eternal Night.

Eternal Night began to tremble with emotion.

He desperately said, “The Harpies were once enslaved by the Beasts for tens of thousands of years. We...... No matter what, we will never return to a life where our fate is in someone else’s hands. Freedom is invaluable. We will preserve our freedom no matter what!”

Su Chen calmly replied, “Freedom is precious indeed, but life is even more precious. Your Majesty, you have already lost the right to negotiate on this matter.”

Eternal Night helplessly closed his eyes as he bitterly said, “I have truly harmed the Harpies.”

Su Chen smiled faintly. “Such is the fate of anyone with grand ambitions. If you don’t succeed, then you will end up destroying everything you have created. Actually, you don’t need to worry about much, as we humans will be the ones bearing the brunt of the G.o.ds’ wrath. If we lose, then our fate will be even worse than yours. This is what it means when people say that great falls accompany great rises. The lowly slaves, however, will be able to survive even if they have no hope of ever reaching the peak. If the human race loses...... Well then, let’s just say that the Harpies will be in much better shape. This is just how these things are.”

Eternal Night was stunned by Su Chen’s logic, but upon further reflection, he realized that this view actually made quite a bit of sense.

The victors of this battle would be saddled with the most responsibility, which included bearing any future consequences that would arise as a result.

Actually, this defeat could, in some way, be considered the Harpies’ good fortune if the Intelligent Races’ battle against the G.o.ds went poorly.

But even if he understood this, Eternal Night couldn’t stop himself from grabbing Su Chen’s arm. “Su Chen, promise me that you will not lose! The Harpies would rather serve humans than the G.o.ds!”

Only someone who knew the truth could speak in this way.

Su Chen gently nodded. “I cannot promise you anything, but I will do everything within my power not to.”

When Eternal Night heard this, he tilted his head back and cackled, “Hahahaha, well said, well said! You can only do what is in your power.”

His laughter sounded like it was tinged with insanity. All of the majesty and prestige he held as a ruler had disappeared.

Su Chen knew that Eternal Night was just venting the rage in his heart, so he watched silently.

After a long time, he said, “Your Majesty, give the command to surrender. Too many people have died. There’s no need to continue like this.”

Eternal Night finally stopped laughing and muttered, “You’re right. It is time.”

His tone was despondent, yet it also contained a certain kind of fearlessness towards death.

Su Chen knew that Eternal Night would not keep himself alive when he saw this.

As a failed leader, he would not allow himself to go on living on this continent.

Off in the distance, a shocking explosion of light burst forth as the human armies let out a collective cry of joy.

That was Sky City’s barrier collapsing completely.

They had paid a price in blood to bring down that barrier.

Now, it was time for them to reap the fruit of their labor.

The bitter battle to destroy Sky City’s defenses had ended, and the human cultivators swarmed into the city, beginning to claim Harpy life after Harpy life.

There was not much time remaining.

Su Chen tilted his hand, and a spatial vortex appeared before Eternal Night.

This was a spatial technique that would transmit Eternal Night’s voice throughout the entire city.

Actually, Eternal Night would have been able to project his voice without Su Chen’s help, but he was looking a little pale, so Su Chen decided to help them out.

Within Sky City, a brutal ma.s.sacre was beginning to unfold.

Even though the Harpies were far inferior to the humans when it came to close-quarters combat, their backs were against the wall. Even if they died, they would make sure to get one last hit in.

A human cultivator was swarmed immediately after he killed a Harpy soldier. Even though he did his best to fight his way out, he eventually fell under their combined might.

The Harpies, on the other hand, were in an even worse situation. They continued to struggle with all their might.

“d.a.m.n, these Harpies have gone insane,” Lin Shaoxuan muttered as he wiped the sweat of his brow.

“Their country is about to fall, so it’s quite understandable.” Li Chongshan was quite calm. “Tell your soldiers to keep fighting hard. The slaughter will probably be ending soon.”

Only they would likely understand the meaning behind these words.

“Found them! Found them!” At that moment, a loud commotion suddenly sprang up off in the distance.

“Why all the commotion?” Li Chongshan asked.

A cultivator replied, “We found Le Feng and the others.”

“You found Le Feng?” Li Chongshan and the others were ecstatic.

Le Feng was their observer, and he had been imprisoned after Eternal Night had openly violated the terms of their agreement. Su Chen and Li Chongshan were quite concerned with this matter.

But they seemed to be quite lucky. Sky City had yet to fall, but Le Feng and the others had already been found.

“How is he?” Li Chongshan asked with some agitation.

The cultivator, however, shook his head silently.

Li Chongshan felt his heart jolt when he saw this.

He hurriedly flew over to where a large group of human soldiers was gathered.

Li Chongshan and Lin Shaoxuan arrived at the same time. Cheng Tianhai was already on the scene, cradling Le Feng in his arms. His body had been completely mangled from head to toe.

But this was not such a big deal. After all, flesh wounds were insignificant to cultivators. As long as he could still cultivate, he would recover.

As such, when Li Chongshan reached over to help him up, he received a huge shock. Not even the faintest trace of Origin Energy could be sensed in Le Feng’s body anymore.

They had crippled him.

In other words, his wounds would never fully heal.

“Le Feng...... What about the others?” Li Chongshan asked.

“The same!” Cheng Tianhai howled with rage. “These G.o.dd.a.m.n Harpies! I’ll kill them all!”

He spun around and roared, “Brothers, to arms! We won’t rest until we wipe every Harpy off the face of this continent!”

“Slaughter all Harpies!” all of the human cultivators echoed mournfully.

Prisoners of war had different statuses than the soldiers fighting in battle. Le Feng’s treatment at the hands of the Harpies had truly infuriated all of them. Even Li Chongshan, who was always level-headed, howled with rage as he charged forwards.

The human cultivators surged forwards in a wave of fiery fury.

At that moment, Eternal Night’s voice rang throughout the city.

“All Harpies, hear my command. We have lost this war. I order all forces to lay down their weapons and surrender.”

What?

Everyone was stunned by this announcement.

“No! We haven’t been defeated yet! We’ll fight to our dying breath!” a Harpy general cried out in anger and despair.

Even more shocking, however, was Cheng Tianhai’s reaction.

The killing intent in Cheng Tianhai’s eyes didn’t fade in the slightest when he heard the Harpy order to surrender. “Who gives a d.a.m.n about your surrender? Is it not too little, too late? Kill them all!”

Even though a majority of the Harpies had lost their will to continue fighting, the human cultivators were still full of fiery rage.

“Why? Why do they still want to kill us even though we already surrendered?” Eternal Night was enraged by this turn of events.

At that moment, a short report was transmitted to Su Chen. Su Chen briefly glanced at it, then sighed. “This is the reason. Take a look for yourself.”

He handed the report over to Eternal Night.

Eternal Night was stunned by what he read. “I did not give that order.”

“I know, but there are always a few fiery-headed people who don’t listen to orders and act on their own. More importantly, this has already happened,” Su Chen sighed lamentfully.

“So what should we do?”

“We can only give them time to vent. Let them continue ma.s.sacring the Harpies for a while longer,” Su Chen nonchalantly replied.

Eternal Night was badly startled by this decision. He grabbed Su Chen and yelled, “You cannot throw away the lives of my countrymen to slake your men’s bloodthirst!”

“Oh, but I can,” Su Chen replied coolly, “From this moment onwards, the n.o.bles have become the slaves, and this is merely the fate of a slave, especially that of a disobedient one.”

Eternal Night felt despair overwhelm him. “What do you want from me to spare them?”

“How about your life?” Su Chen countered.

If someone else had said this, then Eternal Night would have a.s.sumed that they were going to kill him.

But Su Chen’s words meant the exact opposite.

He said, “From today onwards, your life and your intellect will fully belong to me!”