[V6C33 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
No one expected Song Zining to meet the great army head-on and choose the strongest point to break through the encirclement, the battle line of a first-rank arachne viscount.
He donned the silver demon mask once again in this battle and charged at the van of the army. His spear made of mysterious metal was brandished with full force—his figure was akin to a dragon, and his every strike was like lightning as he killed his way into the enemy central army and brought his entire unit through the siege.
After breaking the siege, Song Zining turned back to act as the rear guard.
His black-silver armor had turned scarlet. His robes were drenched in blood, and there was no telling whether it was his own or the enemies’. In the end, his mask was even damaged in several areas, a clear indication of just how dangerous the battle was.
Song Zining propped himself up on the spear and stood in silence. Before him was half a division’s worth of disorderly dark-race pursuers, and behind him were a dozen human experts who refused to leave along with their main force.
He was gazing straight ahead, but the dense horde of dark race soldiers wasn’t in his eyes. It seemed as if he was waiting for something.
The charging dark race warriors came to a sudden halt hundreds of meters away and split apart like a tidal wave, whereupon a vampire count walked out from within. This was an expert capable of overseeing a segment of the battlefield, a testament to how much the dark races had invested for intercepting Song Zining.
“Surrender and perhaps you’ll receive the honor of the revered prince’s embrace. Otherwise, your life will end on our blood feast table,” the count spoke thus. There was a small flaming crown insignia on his collar, which meant that he was a member of the Sperger clan’s powerful primogenitor branch.
Song Zining responded by slowly lifting the point of his spear, and the area around him several meters in radius was suddenly pervaded by the chill of autumn and fluttering leaves. Every blade of leaf flickered with a sharp glint akin to a blade’s edge. It was as though he didn’t mind at all that the other party was a mighty count three entire levels above him. Whether it was in Evernight or Daybreak, such a level gap was likely enough to render many attacks and defenses ineffective.
Intense blood energy boiled up around the count and gradually took the form of many a fierce beast. They were roaring and galloping as though they would materialize at the very next moment.
Suddenly, the drawn, melodious hum of a blade rang out as an austere sword intent surged into the skies. It was as though a divine weapon had left its sheath. No one knew when, but a certain figure had appeared on the western edge of the battlefield, one with bones seemingly made of sword intent, and muscles akin to white jade. His set of sapphire blue battle-robes was extremely dazzling, much like the sky or the vast oceans.
The vampire count’s pale eyes hung down ever so slightly to form a grave expression. This person’s manner was incomparably ostentatious, and he was a rank-thirteen human champion. Although one level below him, the count could feel a pressure of extreme danger coming from the man.
The stalemate lasted for a mere wink before the count let out a shrill cry and withdrew his rolling blood energy. His figure quickly vanished like mist and reappeared in the midst of the dark race army, then the next moment, he was already hundreds of meters away.
The count’s sudden withdrawal prompted the dark army to retreat. However, the sword hum reverberated loudly through the area at this moment, much like the dense sound of raindrops during a rainstorm. The dark race soldiers in its wake were cut through the waist like reaped paddy, and blood eventually flowed like rivers.
That blue-robed youth withdrew his sword stance and watched with a blood-thirsty smile as the routed dark race army fled in disorder. Only afterward did he turn back to size up Song Zining.
The banner of the imperial army reinforcements appeared on the horizon at this moment.
Song Zining met the person’s gaze and nodded in acknowledgement. However, he never withdrew his domain or loosened his grip on the spear.
The young man broke into a laugh as he sheathed that l.u.s.trous sword seemingly carved from crystal. “I’ve always believed that those who learn divination arts are sneaky people. You’re somewhat different, though. You actually dare charge the enemy lines with those ragtag soldiers in tow. Now that’s quite rare.”
These ambiguous words sounded both like praise and depreciation. Song Zining only replied indifferently, “It’s always been a fact that the brave will win in a confrontation between enemies. Divination is no exception to this rule, either.”
The blue-robed youth laughed louder, his voice clear and somewhat deep. “But you seem to have the leisure to gaze to the south even while running about through the siege.”
Song Zining’s eyes turned cold. He had long since sensed an expert from the Daybreak side following him in the recent days, but the latter wouldn’t reveal himself regardless of the situation. As expected, it was this blue-robed youth. That was why Song Zining hadn’t relaxed his vigilance although it seemed like this person had appeared to help.
“It’s probably Giant’s Repose in that direction, and I happen to be headed there. Do you have any important people inside? Tell me,” the blue-robed youth watched Song Zining intently and spat out these words in a frivolous tone, “so that I can kill them.”
But Song Zining didn’t show any reaction at all. Even his fingers on the spear didn’t move one bit. With his countenance hidden behind the mask, his eyes became completely devoid of emotion. His gaze s.h.i.+fted from the blue-robed youth’s face to his collar, then onto his peculiar sword.
The young man seemed not to mind Song Zining’s impolite gaze at all. He looked toward the approaching reinforcements and said with some surprise, “Since it’s actually people from the Green Sun Zhang clan, I’ll be taking my leave first. But the Song Seventh Young n.o.ble is quite different from the legends. Truly interesting!” The young man’s figure moved several dozen meters away with a flash of blue light.
The reinforcement army arrived at this moment, and it was, as expected, the Zhang clan private army. The leader was a thirty-year-old rank-twelve champion. The man ran over promptly and revealed a sincere smile after finding that Song Zining—as well the dozen-odd experts who stayed behind to act as the rear-guard—were all fine. He greeted Song Zining and then glanced over at the blue-robed youth. “Who is that? What a powerful sword art!”
That sword strike from just now had filled the skies with its baleful aura, and even those far away could see the whirlwind of blood. Song Zining replied calmly, “Jingtang Li Clan, Li Kuanglan.”
The Zhang clan champion’s smile was immediately frozen, and his expression became rather unnatural. No one knew whether he was reacting to the family name or if he had heard of this young man’s name. He then said, “Seventh Young n.o.ble, your squad has already reached the safe zone. You can rest and reorganize at the E3 base. Moreover, that place isn’t far from Marshal Zhang’s frontline command center. He wishes to see you.”
Song Zining slowly removed his mask and said with a smile, “I naturally obey.”
Before leaving, Song Zining glanced back at the empty, overcast wilderness. The dark race army had already retreated completely, and that blue-robed youth was nowhere to be seen.
News of Zhang Boqian summoning Song Zining spread fairly quickly. This sent a strong signal because Zhang Boqian wasn’t one to posture. Him willing to meet Song Zining meant that he approved of this new talent. It also signified that he had excluded Song Zining from his clan’s enmity with the Song clan.
Everyone felt that Song Zining’s luck was pretty good, but the involved parties probably had different opinions. In an isolated corner and away from public eyes, Song Zining was speaking to himself. “Qianye, you’ve brought me such a big problem, so I guess we can call it even with the troubles I’m about to bring you.”
The situation at the edge of Giant’s Repose was fairly calm compared to the war taking place hundreds of kilometers around it. The Evernight Council and the empire had both dispatched numerous experts into it. Hence, no one was lingering around it apart from some surveillance personnel.
A frail figure with fluttering shoulder-length hair appeared beside a hidden cliffside. It was the long-lost Bai Kongzhao. At this moment, her white dress was badly tattered, and her skin was dotted with injuries. There was a thick bandage around her abdomen, the edges of which were somewhat soiled from the blood seeping out continuously.
It would seem that she hadn’t been having an easy time during this period. However, her eyes were just as clear and sharp—it was as though nothing could make her lose spirit.
The beautiful dagger in her left hand hadn’t yet lost its sharpness and looked to be the product of a famous craftsman. No one knew how this demonkin-style dagger had fallen into her hands, but one could easily guess that the process wasn’t a happy one.
Bai Kongzhao gazed at the rolling clouds in the valley and jumped down without any hesitation. Bai Aotu’s shadow appeared far in the distance just as her small figure vanished into the misty clouds.
Bai Aotu gazed in the direction of that precipitous cliff with a frown. Just now, she had sensed a somewhat familiar aura there, but it had vanished in a flash and never reappeared.
She reinforced her perception but still gained nothing. This wasn’t her specialty, moreover, the interference of the prismatic turbulence below was extremely obvious.
But Bai Aotu wasn’t about to let something like this bother her. She no longer paid that aura any attention and proceeded to walk forward calmly, her hands hidden within her sleeves and her feet seemingly treading on water. She arrived at the cliff’s edge in the blink of an eye and leapt right down without further delay.
In the Bai clan encampment on Evernight Continent, Bai Longjia was busy a.s.sembling the combat squads from the b.l.o.o.d.y battle. He was extremely busy, building casualty lists, processing compensation to the grieving families, and counting up military contributions. Bai Aotu was neither willing nor capable of performing such tasks.
However, Bai Longjia had led troops for many years in the Broken Winged Angels and knew very well that these seemingly trivial matters were, in fact, of great importance. It could be said that a unit’s morale was mostly dependent on these minor details. Bai Longjia had no choice but to take on this responsibility since Bai Aotu wasn’t willing to do it, not to mention the Bai clan was short on manpower.
Presently, the b.l.o.o.d.y battle had already come to an end and all kinds of military affairs were piling up like mountains. Bai Longjia was so busy that he had lost track of day and night. It was at this moment that a subordinate came to deliver a letter from Bai Aotu. There was only a single line upon it that read, “Heading into Giant’s Repose. Don’t miss me.”
Bai Longjia was unable to speak for a long time after reading the letter. In the end, he slapped the paper onto the table with an ashen expression. He was furious because of Bai Aotu, a rare happening for someone like Bai Longjia who admired his sister greatly.
It was fine that Bai Aotu had been acting on her own in the past since she could be considered a young genius back then. But in recent years, her strength had risen sharply, and she had made rapid progress on the martial dao. She was already one of the core powers of the Bai clan, and, judging from her age and future prospects, it was almost a certainty that she would become the number one expert of the clan in the future.
Entering Giant’s Repose meant that there was a chance she could die, and that would have an unimaginable impact on the Bai clan. However, she had never allowed Bai Longjia to question her behavior.
The conflict between the Bai and Zhao clans had already surfaced after the b.l.o.o.d.y battle. It was the most critical moment where they had to decide how to deal with the aftermath. Bai Aotu played a key role in several of the Bai clan’s development plans. All of those projects would fall into disorder now that she had run off to Giant’s Repose,.
After he had calmed down, Bai Longjia placed the letter back into the envelope and resealed it with great care. He then summoned a follower and instructed, “Deliver this to the elder a.s.sembly at the greatest speed!”
The follower had followed Bai Longjia for many years and was able to sense the urgency in his unusual tone of voice. He shot off immediately, and, moments later, a high-speed airs.h.i.+p rose from the base and flew toward the upper continent.
Bai Longjia pushed all trivial affairs to one side and proceeded to open a cla.s.sified folder. He then flipped through the doc.u.ments one by one and started making detailed notes. There was no telling when Bai Aotu would return, so these plans had to be completely redrafted.
Unknowingly, day turned to night, and night turned to day. Bai Longjia had been bent over his desk for an entire day and night, only drinking some water in between. However, the folder was now filled with tiny dense words—the entire project had been redrafted.
Even someone of Bai Longjia’s strength felt quite exhausted at this moment. However, he felt fairly satisfied after looking at the thick dossier as it was the culmination of his recent years of experience in military and politics. It would surely draw a lot of reaction at the elder a.s.sembly.