[V6C161 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

“Brother Liu! General Liu!” The experts of the Li family examined him carefully, but then they looked at each other and shook their heads.

Qianye saw everything from nearby. He simply didn’t know how to describe the feeling in his heart. The man who had collapsed was above Lu Sha in terms of combat strength and yet he was injured to such a degree. He might not have died at the gates if he hadn’t rushed back so desperately.

Qianye looked to the side and saw a group of people waiting to enter the base. This group contained over thirty people—all of them were wounded and half had to be carried back. A young warrior was sitting on a hand cart and gazing into the distance. His body was covered in bandages, and one of his legs was missing. Ordinary soldiers couldn’t afford the treatment for such an injury, not even those in the aristocratic private armies. His entire life was destined to be accompanied by crutches. The guards at the gate were checking those seeking entry in great detail, and not even the wounded were an exception. No amount of injury could stir any fluctuation in their eyes. Qianye knew that it wasn’t because these soldiers were cold-blooded, but because they had witnessed this scene so many times that they had become numb to it.

Qianye stood outside the base for a while, but he only saw squads on the return and none going out. This was a stark contrast to the endless stream of departing squads when the aristocratic families had started flocking to this base.

Seeing this, Qianye felt a faint gloominess emerge in his heart.

He didn’t return to his residence after returning to the base but went to the merchant district instead. Now that there were a lot of aristocratic families in the base, the demand for trade was naturally high. The Li family was quite adept in this regard—they drew out an area in the base for different parties to do business.

Probably due to the war, business inside the trade district was quite spa.r.s.e. There were more soldiers here selling items than those coming to browse the wares. Qianye strolled through random stalls, occasionally picking up some items to see.

Many different things were on sale in the trade district—from weapons and ammunition to various kinds of mutant beast organs, one could find almost everything here. One of them was even selling the sapling of a giant tree. It was just that Qianye had seen how these trees developed and thus immediately knew that it was fake.

Under normal circ.u.mstances, many independent experts would sell their spoils here. The problem was that Qianye had so many spoils on him that no one could devour the entire batch. It was much easier to sell it in one batch to the Lu family who dealt primarily in dark race weapons.

Qianye left the trade district with a barrel of tree sap in his backpack. This item was everywhere in the forest—a huge barrel cost only a thousand gold coins, and half of that value was attributed to the barrel. Not just any container could hold this tree sap.

The tree sap wasn’t sold as origin distillate on the market, but instead as a natural poison. Moreover, it was poison for use against humans. Everyone was stunned after seeing Qianye buy a barrel of it and quickly adopted expressions of tacit understanding.

After returning to his residence, Qianye put down the item and went to the bar instead of cultivating. He was planning to have a drink and relax his tense nerves.

The bar was packed to the brim. The powerful ba.s.s seemed to be beating on the people’s hearts and causing their blood to boil. This bar was one of the many bars in the base. As the war took a turn for the worse, the bar’s business became more and more lively. Many people found excuses to drink: surviving, about to die soon, or to enjoy the present.

Qianye pushed himself past a bandaged soldier and several almost-naked ladies to arrive at the bar. There, he tossed a gold coin onto the bar and said, “Give me something strong, anything.”

The man at the bar shot Qianye a deep glance before picking up the gold coin and placing a cup on the bar. Then, he added over half a dozen types of strong alcohol, poured some unknown white liquid into it, and placed it in front of Qianye.

Qianye didn’t drink it immediately. He sniffed it a bit and said, “So much stimulants?”

The man behind the counter shrugged. “Can’t help it. Too many brothers have died these days, and this is the only way to make them feel a bit better.”

Even for a bar running on the Li clan territory, the stimulants used here weren’t of good quality. This white liquid was the lowest grade of stimulants which contained a fair bit of impurities. That was actually the reason why it was addictive and excitatory. It was just that the euphoria brought about by the impurities had no healing effects.

The amount of stimulants in this cup was enough to make an ordinary person collapse. To Qianye, however, it was only enough to give him a floating sensation which was just right for relaxing the soul and one’s emotions.

Qianye raised his gla.s.s and finished the drink in one gulp. Then he placed the cup and another coin onto the counter. “One more.”

An almost unnatural redness came over Qianye’s face following two gla.s.ses of alcohol. The clamor around him drifted away and became less distinct.

This was the kind of feeling he wanted.

It was at this time that the entire bar quieted down, and the contrast in volume almost made people feel that the music had stopped.

The silence only lasted for a short moment before the clamor exploded once more. The sudden eruption of voices was almost deafening!

Everyone was shouting. There was no telling if their expressions were of excitement or terror, but they were definitely fierce.

The tipsy Qianye only caught a couple of keywords amidst the loud cries:

“The Zhang clan has lost.”

Everyone in the cafe rushed out, leaving only Qianye and the man behind the counter. Even the servers had vanished.

The bartender continued was.h.i.+ng his cups as though it was the only thing he knew in the world.

Qianye finished the drink and sighed. “This war isn’t going to be easy.”

“It never was,” the man replied.

At this moment, Qianye recalled the empire’s definition of this war—the war of national fate. There was no telling how many people were having the same thought.

The Zhang clan was like the midday sun since Zhang Boqian reached the pinnacle and obtained the t.i.tle of Prince Greensun. They had never lost a single open battle. Even the Evernight Council couldn’t gain the upper hand despite awakening the Queen of the Night. The empire had held the upper hand since the b.l.o.o.d.y battle and the fight for void essences.

How could the Zhang clan have lost?

It was almost as though the empire would never lose with Prince Greensun in the field and Marshal Lin doing the planning.

Qianye suddenly stood up and walked out of the bar.

The base was in utter chaos. There were people running about on the streets. Everyone only had one topic to discuss, and that was how the Zhang clan had lost.

An alarm suddenly went off amidst the chaos, and a vigorous sound enveloped the entire base under the support of origin power. “Maintain order, do not panic! The latest report will be announced very soon. Everyone, please exercise restraint! Those who sow disorder intentionally will be executed without exception!”

Several Li family experts flew into the air with their origin power released unrestrainedly. People eventually calmed down under their repeated warnings and were now waiting for the latest battle report.

The Li family didn’t make everyone wait for long. Moments later, several dozen soldiers arrived and began posting the reports in visible places within the base. At the same time, Li Tianquan appeared above the base and said, “This old man is Li Tianquan! Everyone, please remain calm. Our Li family base will not disa.s.semble. The contribution rankings will go on as usual, and all rewards will be issued according to their original agreements.”

These words calmed everyone down a fair bit.

Qianye recalled the geography of the floating continent. The Zhang clan’s defeat opened up the Zhao clan behind it. On the other side was the Song clan, but everyone knew they wouldn’t last very long. The Evernight army’s main forces were focused on the Zhang clan’s side with less than a third posted toward the Song clan and Li family. Even so, the Song clan was fighting a bitter battle and its fall was only a matter of time.

With the Zhang clan defeated and the Song clan soon to follow, only the Zhao clan warzone remained of the empire’s foundations. There simply wasn’t any leeway left. The Li clan was still able to hold out because of the contribution rankings and the fact that armies couldn’t be deployed in the Misty Wood. But with the Zhang and Song clan both gone, the Li family base would be left hanging alone and suffer attacks from three sides. At that time, the Li family would also have to retreat toward the Zhao clan if they couldn’t stand the pressure.

That was the cause of the previous chaos.

Listening to Li Tianquan’s words, however, it would seem the Li family was intent on entrenching themselves in the Misty Wood and fighting to the death here. This relieved many people, but there were also some who didn’t feel quite confident. Who knew if the Li family was speaking the truth or just placating them?

The battle reports were posted in due haste and one of them wasn’t too far from Qianye. The content of the report was fairly concise. It explained that the dark races had been continuously increasing in number. It stated that the Zhang clan had abandoned their fortress after a month of continuous siege and were retreating to the Zhao clan warzone to regroup.

Qianye squeezed out of the crowd after looking at the report and duly headed toward his residence. He pa.s.sed by a hurriedly walking person on the way, but the latter soon turned back with a surprised expression and called out to Qianye.

Li Weis.h.i.+ had a worried expression on his face and seemed somewhat startled after seeing Qianye’s countenance. “General Qianye, are you leaving?”

Qianye nodded. “It’s about time.”

Li Weis.h.i.+ sighed. “That’s good, too. With the Zhang clan gone, the war here won’t be easy to fight. You better hurry if you’re going back to the mainland. There’s a cargo s.h.i.+p heading back tomorrow. I’ll go and talk to them and see if they can make s.p.a.ce for you.”

“I’m not going back to the empire, only changing warzones.”

Li Weis.h.i.+ was immediately startled. “Changing warzones? There’s nowhere left right now, only the Zhao clan.”

In truth, the Song clan warzone was still intact. However, the Full Moon Plains were too difficult to defend, and the Song clan’s strength was bottom among the four major clans. Even those peak aristocratic families could beat them. So in everyone’s eyes, the Full Moon Plains were already as good as lost.

“You’re really going to the Zhao clan?” Li Weis.h.i.+ couldn’t help but ask after seeing Qianye remain silent.

Qianye nodded.

Astonished, Li Weis.h.i.+ put in great effort to dissuade him. “Going to the Zhao clan now is like heading to your death. Why not just remain here if you want to fight? At least there’s the Misty Wood to s.h.i.+eld you here and the dark races won’t go all out with their attacks. There’s a lot of room for action. Additionally, it’s only one week from the contribution rankings. You’re in the lead right now, but others might flip the tables. It’s working for the empire all the same wherever you are.”

Qianye only smiled in response to Li Weis.h.i.+’s persuasion and went back to his room. The man sighed deeply, his mood inexplicably gloomy.

At this moment, two jeeps—painted in the colors of the Count of Giantfield’s Yun family—were whistling toward the airs.h.i.+p port. The cars were fully packed and carrying only simple luggage; apparently, the people on them were prepared to retreat.

The news had just been released and yet many people were already wavering. The well-informed responded rapidly and had even finished packing because those who were late might not be able to leave. No matter how useless Li Tianquan was, he at least knew that the airs.h.i.+p ports were under his control.

Seeing the Count of Giantfield’s entourage leaving, Li Weis.h.i.+ sighed with a wry smile. “Everyone’s smart!”