Chapter 409: Lifelong Enemy (Part 2) [V5C116 – A Distance Within Reach]
Qianye did not give chase. Instead, he hastened his footsteps and changed his direction, choosing the closest route toward human-controlled territory. It was reasonable to think that Bai Kongzhao had been injured quite badly, but she had sneaked her way back in such a short time. Apparently, her injuries had recovered at an abnormal speed. Moreover, she should already have known that it was impossible for her to finish Qianye off alone, but she simply refused to leave and was waiting around like a gangrene upon the bone.
However, Qianye halted his steps once again before he had gone very far. Presently, he was extremely cautious and had True Sight active at all times despite the blood energy consumption—as expected, he found abnormal fluctuations up ahead. A thousand meters ahead, a dozen or so people had sealed off the southeastern path toward human territory and were waiting to ambush him.
It was really too convenient how these people had appeared in such a place to set up a blockade. Qianye, with his heavy injuries, couldn’t help but become vigilant after connecting them to Bai Kongzhao’s movements.
The aggregation of origin power in the distance flickered rather obviously as a number of cryptic and tyrannical auras appeared. Although all of them were daybreak origin power, it felt even more dangerous to Qianye. He didn’t hesitate very long before pulling back and soon switched to a different direction in order to circle around them.
In the distant forest, dozens of warriors were swiftly making their way through the woods. Their equipment were of superior quality, but there was no obvious symbol on their weapons and apparel, making it difficult to discern their allegiance.
The leader, a short-bearded man, stopped and suddenly raised his hand. The warriors behind him all came to a halt and dispersed into the forest to a.s.sume a guard formation.
Bai Kongzhao walked out from the forest in complete silence much like a specter. Many soldiers revealed a sense of dread they themselves couldn’t quite comprehend. Most of them had never even seen this girl before, but they were instinctively afraid.
The short-bearded captain’s expression relaxed after seeing Bai Kongzhao. He walked over to meet her and asked, “Miss Kongzhao, how did it go?”
“I shot him once and added another stab. He’s badly injured now.”
The short-bearded captain was full of delight. “I’ve already ordered my men to set up a blockade, but where is he?”
Bai Kongzhao reached out a small hand and said, “I can bring you to him, but the price will double. Moreover, you’ll pay up front.”
The short-bearded captain’s expression s.h.i.+fted immediately. “This isn’t what we originally agreed.”
“He’s even more powerful than you guys have imagined. You can chase after him yourself, but I can tell you that you won’t ever find him.”
The captain took a step back to size-up Bai Kongzhao. “Have you already communicated with the will of the Iron Curtain?!” His voice was trembling ever so slightly as he said this.
“He’ll get away if you keep on blabbering,” Bai Kongzhao said without any expression.
A sinister-looking soldier behind the short-bearded captain came forward and whispered, “Chief, that la.s.s has been badly wounded herself. Why don’t we just take her down? In any case, none of the brothers here will utter a word about it.”
The captain’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on the young girl"s legs. The hem of her skirt was in tatters and almost revealed her entire thigh. There was a striking wound on her exquisite skin where the skin and flesh had been turned inside out, and her calf was stained with dried blood. It was obvious from this just how much blood she had lost.
Looking at her fair, well-proportioned leg, the captain suddenly felt his mouth run dry and his adam"s apple rolled up and down for a bit. Behind him, the gazes of the soldiers were just as fiery as they stared fixedly at the girl’s thigh. All of them were elites who forged their staunch willpower through blood and flames, but, for some reason, they couldn’t quite control themselves at this moment.
Bai Kongzhao’s expression was just as vacant as before as though she had no idea what was going on.
At this moment, the captain recalled the numerous legends surrounding this young lady and then remembered her background. He was suddenly drenched in cold sweat and immediately became clear-headed. Without a second thought, he removed the satchel from his waist and tossed it to Bai Kongzhao. “This is all the money we first agreed on.”
The sinister-looking warrior cried out anxiously, “Captain!”
“Shut up!!!” The captain grabbed the soldier’s neck and held it so tight that the man could hardly breathe. He stared into the latter’s eyes and said word by word, “Don’t forget, that woman from the Bai clan is still here! I still have women and children back home. I don’t want to die for nothing here!”
“But…” He wanted to say that the Bai family woman had no way to take action, but he sensibly swallowed his words after seeing captain’s fierce gaze.
Bai Kongzhao’s misty eyes had turned into an unfathomable darkness as she watched them from the side and couldn’t help but let out a regretful sigh.
Only afterward did she look down at the satchel and found it filled with a neat stack of black crystals. “Not enough. I told you I can lead you to him, but the price will increase.”
The captain turned back and shouted, “Bring out everything you have!”
The dozens of warriors walked out in a line and handed over the gold coins they had on them. There was also a number of black crystals among them. All the items were placed into the bag in the captain’s hand, filling it up halfway in the blink of an eye.
The captain handed the bag over to Bai Konghzhao and said, “Here’s the cash.”
Bai Kongzhao threw the bag into the previous satchel and slung it over her back. “You’re smart, but I don’t like smart people because I’m dumb.”
The captain, who was three levels higher than Bai Kongzhao in terms of origin power, felt rather uneasy under the young girl’s gaze. He laughed wryly and said, “Smart people live longer. I only wish to survive. Miss, you might not be able to catch up to him if you keep delaying further.”
“I remember his scent and won’t lose him no matter what.” The young girl’s voice was clear and gentle, almost as though she were singing softly. But the captain was overcome by greater uneasiness and his thoughts just now were completely dispelled.
Bai Kongzhao entered the forest first with the dozens of valiant warriors following behind her at great speed.
Beside a pond thousands of meters away, Qianye was leaning on a large tree with his clothes half-undone as he washed his wounds. He had originally intended to endure until he reached the base at Silverflow Fjord, but now it seemed these visitors had no intention of letting him return so easily.
The injury at his waist seemed lethal at a glance but actually wasn’t so bad. There were traces of black t.i.tanium in the demonkin weapon and would delay wound healing in ordinary people. However, Qianye possessed the tyrannical dark golden blood energy which was slowly devouring the harmful substances around the wound. At this rate, his injury would return to its normal healing rate within a day.
The wound in front of his chest was the problematic one. The armor Wei Potian had gifted him had been torn into pieces, and it was already cracked after blocking the first sniper round. Afterward, it was split into pieces after being pierced through by Bai Kongzhao’s blade, and the broken fragments had stabbed deep into his flesh.
Meanwhile, a number of bones on Qianye’s chest had been fractured by the impact from the two almost consecutive blows. Such an injury would’ve killed him several times over were it not for the support of his upgraded vampire const.i.tution.
Qianye endured the pain as he pulled out the armor fragments from his chest, wrapped the shards in cloth, and put them away into his spatial necklace. This protective armor had saved him thrice. Despite being broken, the materials were still there and could be reforged into another piece of high-quality armor upon his return.
Qianye finally produced some clear water to pour over his wounds. He then applied alcohol and medicine to the injuries before sitting down with his back against the tree and heaving a long sigh. His eyelids grew progressively heavier as he fell into a deep sleep.
However, he had just closed his eyes when his ears caught a series of subtle footsteps. At the same time, he felt the earth trembling ever so slightly, causing him to immediately become alert. He fell p.r.o.ne to the ground to carefully sense the vibrations—at least a dozen or so people were heading toward him at great speed.
These people made no effort to hide their presence. Perhaps it was for speed or maybe it was because they already had a definite target.
Qianye leapt up swiftly onto the nearby ancient tree and hid himself amidst the dense foliage.
The squad of warriors arrived beside the pond under Bai Kongzhao’s leaders.h.i.+p.
“Halt!” The entire group stopped in response to a wave of the young girl’s hand. She scanned the surroundings, and finally, her beautiful little eyebrows locked into a frown as her gaze reached the area beside the pond.
The short-bearded captain crouched down beside the pond and reached out to touch the earth beside it. “He was here a while ago.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Bai Kongzhao screamed, “He’s above!”
The captain was greatly astonished. He looked up instinctively only to find a dozen or so origin grenades falling down from above—he was immediately shocked out of his wits.
All the origin grenades exploded at about the same time and covered an area tens of meters in diameter. The conflagration connected with one another and condensed into a dazzling ball of flame slowly climbing into the sky.
The short-bearded captain shot up from the ground as the flowing blaze had receded—the origin barrier around him flickered as he moved to extinguish the flames on his body. He had reacted with extreme speed just now, dropping to the ground and pus.h.i.+ng his defenses to the max. That was the only reason he had managed to survive the strongest impact.
At this moment, the forest was already in complete disorder. Trees had fallen in disarray, and the ones caught within the blast radius were on fire. Over ten soldiers stood up in succession, but several others were left groaning on the ground—the rest showed no signs of movement.
The captain felt a chill run through his heart. Did that ambush just now wipe out over half of his men? Recalling that earth-shattering origin grenade bombardment just now, he realized that it wasn’t impossible. But what kind of person would carry so many grenades around?
At this point, the captain was alarmed all of a sudden. Where was Qianye?
A figure flashed through the corner of his eyes as Qianye appeared from behind a burning tree. Following a step on the tree trunk, his entire body shot out like a cannonball and cut diagonally across the inferno toward Bai Kongzhao.
The young girl let out a cry of alarm and turned to run without the slightest intention of resisting. The captain couldn’t help but curse in his heart as he reached for the origin gun in his hand.
Qianye bounced up once again after landing on the other side. However, the sudden pain at this waist slowed him down, and all of a sudden, the distance was drawn apart. Qianye had no choice but to stand and watch as the girl vanished into the depths of the forest.
Qianye turned back immediately without the slightest bit of hesitation, making a beeline for the captain who was charging his gun and taking aim. East Peak performed three thunderous slashes which shattered the man’s protective origin power before the fourth decapitated him.
The flames had yet to die down. Qianye charged through the blaze and felled one enemy after another. Moments later, no one else was left standing.
Qianye gasped leaning on the blade. It took quite the effort to calm down his boiling origin power. The wounds on his chest and back had opened up once again, in addition to the several new ones on his body. Among them, the strike he had received from the dying captain was the fiercest—it cut out a bone-deep gash on Qianye’s left arm.
Qianye walked over to the captain’s headless corpse and proceeded to flip through it. In the end, he found the Nangong Family’s token in the man’s pocket.