Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 24: The First Order
Qianye had rich experience fighting against vampires, but even when Nighteye was unconscious he wasn’t able to discover her true ident.i.ty. It was probably the effects of this ability.
In this case, it would seem that the gold blood energy inside Qianye’s body had come from Nighteye. The purple blood energy probably came from another higher vampire of a powerful bloodline, judging from its indistinct ability to contend against the gold blood energy.
However, Nighteye’s ability was just too terrifying. If the descendants she developed could all inherit similar abilities, then it wouldn’t take long before an unknown number of vampires would conceal themselves among the human race while they were still completely clueless. The more extraordinary her ability was, the less he could afford to let her slip if they encountered each other on the battlefield in the future.
The bronze clock in the cultivation room suddenly let out a gentle and melodious sound that seemed to seep into the origin tide and become a part of the wave itself. It awakened Qianye from his cultivation in a very natural manner.
The bronze clock was made from a special metal called the “cryless copper”. Its sound could be transmitted through origin energy waves, and it could remind cultivators without alarming them. This type of metal was found in only in silver minerals, and from this one could see just how precious they were. Back at Yellow Spring, the entire cultivation valley had only one cryless copper clock, but this place actually allocated one for its guest room.
But this wasn’t the reminder time Qianye had set, so it meant that he had a guest. After changing his clothes, he walked out of the cultivation room and found that Ji Yuanjia was already waiting for him in the living hall.
“Captain Qian, I’m here to pa.s.s on Miss Qiqi’s first mission. Tomorrow night, you will accompany her and attend the castellan’s dinner feast.”
When Qianye heard the way Ji Yuanjia had addressed him, he turned just a bit embarra.s.sed.
The ident.i.ty file the Yin Family had prepared for him actually made Qian his surname and Ye his name directly. He was born in a common’s family at a province far down the imperial southern border. He had arrived at the Evernight Continent following the business group his parents had worked in since a very young age, and he was later left stranded on this forgotten land. In the end, he became a hunter. This was truly a clean background and the perfect resume that matched the recruitment requirements of the main corps very well.
By now Ji Yuanjia had slightly gotten used to Qianye’s habitual silence as he continued, “You will attend as her a.s.sistant and male partner. In order to ensure the success of the night feast, you will be trained in etiquette tomorrow for the entire day. Therefore, please do not arrange any important cultivation training during this time.”
“Alright, I got it.”
Ji Yuanjia smiled and said suddenly, “This mission is a good opportunity. Grasp it well, and you may enjoy a huge additional reward. I really do envy you!”
Qianye was distracted for a moment, and he asked, “Additional rewards?”
“This is a great chance, isn’t it? We know this is just an act, but an act can become real if it is maintained for a long time. This is true for anyone.” Ji Yuanjia said meaningfully.
Qianye understood his meaning. This guy was actually encouraging Qianye to make pretense into reality by getting off with Qiqi!
Qianye really could not understand the purpose behind Ji Yuanjia’s actions. He had not known him more than a day, and he was probably a core subordinate under Qiqi’s command, wasn’t he?
Ji Yuanjia seemed to have guessed Qianye’s thoughts as he smiled and said, “I simply do not want to see a guy with an ulterior motive manipulating the Miss for his own purposes. Alright, that’s it for now. You will understand in the future.”
After Ji Yuanjia had left, Qianye found himself growing more and more puzzled.
After meeting the famous Miss Qiqi for the first time, Qianye had already guessed that his so-called mission was actually a scheme to set him up as a s.h.i.+ny target while they handled someone else in the dark. As for why she had to go through the Home of Hunters, it might be because she thought that someone Yu Yingnan and Old 2 recommended would be reliable. After all, it sounded like the examination for the Yin Family’s successor had entered a critical stage. If the enemies’ spies were to seize the opportunity and sneak in, then even their best strategy would be spoiled.
Earlier, Qianye did not think that the reason Qiqi and Ji Yuanjia gave him a term as attractive as the command of the 131’s independent battle company was to express their trust towards him. On the contrary, it might very well be a way to sound him out. Regardless, this did not affect Qianye’s intentions to complete this mission. His response was very simple. When there was an order he would perform it to the letter, and when there were no orders he would go onto the battlefield, regardless whether or not this company could really become his left and right arms.
But Ji Yuanjia’s earlier words completely confounded Qianye. He thought that it was only natural that the people Qiqi were up against were the other candidates, but it couldn’t be that her fiance was on the list as well, could it? Family marriages were often alliances between forces, so shouldn’t they share the same interest? The world of big aristocratic families truly was incomprehensible.
For the entire morning of the next day, Qianye spent his time by training himself in all kinds of intensive etiquette training.
It was only by learning through his own body that he understood just how complicated and strict the Empire’s etiquette after over a thousand years of time, and this was only because they lacked the time for the full course and could only select the portion related to feast socializing and hasten through them. Starting with standing posture alone, special attention was given to one’s standing angle and range. Qianye could only be thankful that his memory wasn’t bad and that he had a good military standing posture in the past.
The evening was reserved for tailors, makeup artists and hair stylists. They had been working overtime since last night to create his formal attire, and now they needed to make final adjustments based on its overall shape and design.
The hair stylist was a skinny and shriveled man nearing the age of fifty years old. However, his bearing and movements were unspeakably girlish, and he wore a ma.s.sive bluish gold ring on his little finger. He gripped a pair of silver scissors that scissored non-stop in his hand, and his slightly neurotic behavior caused worry for the location of the scissors.
Right now he was gripping a handful of Qianye’s black half-long hair and struggling painfully to come to a decision, “Should it be cut into short hair to better match Miss Qiqi, or should it be preserved to compose a strong contrast against the Miss’ short hair?”
The master stylist struggled internally for a full forty minutes, and no one could continue working if he did not arrive at a decision. Hair style was an extremely important link in the process that was only second to clothing design. An integral design starting from the strand of hair above one’s head down to the color of one’s shoelace of their feet must be made so that a big aristocratic family’s wealth and exquisite refinement could be displayed. How else could they stood out from those landowning households otherwise?
Qianye was fiddled with so much that he was almost numb to it. Instinctively, he thought that these staffs were there to torment him. Otherwise, why had he not experienced such h.e.l.lish design principles from Wei Potian?
The master stylist finally made up his mind, and a moment of crazy bustling later, they finally settled the final particular before the final deadline: the angle of a brooch.
As Qianye stood in front of the full body mirror, the only thing he felt was that this formal attire was absolutely unsuited for combat. Although the main contrasting hues of black and gold, standing collars and epaulette of the outfit were extremely similar to imperial military uniform, it was excessively tight around the waist and sleeves and had gem b.u.t.tons that knocked on the wrists. It made him feel like a bird that had fallen into a spider’s nest, resulting in greatly restricted movements.
Qianye moved his right shoulder in slight discomfort as he watched the flamboyant and proud look on the master stylist’s face from the mirror. He said nothing. Obviously, one’s ability to move did not fall under this master’s consideration whose first priorities were art and visual impact.
“Time’s up!” the maid’s urging voice came from outside the door.
The fan-shaped square were already parked with a dozen or so cars, and the silver convertible car at the center was impressively powered by black crystals! From inside the car, Qiqi waved towards Qianye. Her attire did not appear too garish since it was an imperial military uniform, except that it was now adorned with many obviously valuable ornaments.
There was only one row of seating at the back of the car, and after looking at the car left and right he had no choice but to sit beside Qiqi. He was used to the wide s.p.a.ce of a seam driven heavy truck, and compared to that this car was overly narrow and cramped. He would touch Qiqi’s arm the moment he stretched his own body.
Qiqi habitually stretched a hand to lift Qianye’s chin, “My little belle, I didn’t think you would look this handsome after you’re all dressed up.”
Qianye moved his head aside and dodged the miss’ claws without batting an eyelid. He said, “I have your etiquette teachers and stylists to thank.”
However, Qiqi was the type of person who absolutely refused to let matters drop if she failed to take advantage of another person. Therefore, her hand fell onto Qianye’s palm in pa.s.sing, and she groped it fiercely several times before finally smiling, “There’s no need to be anxious. The reason I’m bringing you tonight is to show you off. You do not need to do anything, and you do not even need to dance or socialize. If you like it, the food of the feast are pretty good. You showing up at the feast is the objective. With your current appearance, I believe you will be able to attract a lot of enmities and alarm quite a few important figures.”
Qianye said nothing. In reality, Qiqi’s words pretty much verified his guesses about this mission earlier.
However, his doubts had only increased rather than decreased. Would the important figures of aristocratic families really judge a person’s threat level by their appearance alone? Even if that was Qiqi’s evaluation standard, Qianye did not think that the experts around her had collectively experienced dementia either. Otherwise, there was no way Qiqi could have reached the final stage as a candidate of the Yin Family’s successor.
The mayor’s mansion was brightly lit. Melodious music resonated everywhere within the vast and grandiose main building. There were a lot of van-style carriages driven by all sorts of land walking strange beasts, but Qiqi’s black crystal car was unique and unmatched. Even on imperial land, cars powered by black crystals were extreme luxuries.
Qianye’s gaze quickly swept around the square once, and he came to the conclusion that Drinking Horse Yin clan’s status might be the highest out of every in tonight’s feast.
The car parked right in front of the main building’s entrance as Ji Yuanjia jumped down the driver’s seat and opened the car door behind. And so Qiqi and Qianye walked out under everyone’s gazes.
A wave of discussion immediately started from their surroundings.
“Miss Qiqi is here!”
“Who is that young man? How is he sitting in the same car as Miss Qiqi?”
“How handsome! And he’s a captain too!”
“He can’t be Miss Qiqi’s new… that… right?”
“He looks very unfamiliar. Which family has sent their young children to her again?”
A tall and powerful middle-aged man walked out of the crowded entrance and arrived in front of Qiqi. After they had given each other a light embrace, he laughed loudly and said, “My niece Qiqi is just as beautiful as ever!”
Qiqi smiled lightly and answered, “You are just as spirited as ever too, uncle!”
Qianye had seen this middle-aged man’s profile before. He was the mayor of Xichang City, Yuan Zeyu. He was no normal Champion, and he was also the patriarch of a branch family. He shared a close relations.h.i.+p with the main branch of the Yin family, and although his surname wasn’t Yin, his blood ties were much stronger than most other branch families.
It was because of this layer of relations.h.i.+p that his family had arrived at the Evernight Continent to defend the strategic location Xichang City. Compared to Yuan Zeyu, the mayor of Darkblood City was just a second rate character.
Yuan Zeyu’s gaze then landed on Qianye’s body, and as a gleam pa.s.sed through his eyes, it was as if all of Qianye’s secrets were to be exposed under his gaze, like lightning piercing through fog!