[V6C169 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
The arachne count’s expression became weird as he realized the situation. Immediately putting on an act despite his fears, he shouted, “Y-You, come over if you dare!”
He struggled with all his might in a bid to gain some combat distance but was entirely numb and powerless. Mortal Emperor’s remnant power was still hanging in the air at this point. The spider moved its eight limbs about, clambering up briefly, and then falling back down again. Not to mention running away, he couldn’t even stand up straight.
Qianye produced his vampiric blade with a flip of his hand, but then he also picked up East Peak, feeling that it was better to play it safe.
When Qianye removed his vampiric blade from the arachne’s back moments later, the entirety of the latter’s essence blood had become his. He walked around the corpse and removed its equipment and backpack, duly stuffing them into Andruil’s s.p.a.ce and sighing in relief.
This was the easiest count he had ever killed throughout his life. The deed ended with just the vampiric blade without having to use East Peak at all. The kill was easy, and the rewards were bountiful.
At the count level, one’s internal and external armors were all extraordinary items. The arachne’s armor, which usually specialized in defense, wasn’t too far off from Young Dragon. Even if it didn’t quite fit Qianye at the moment, he could recycle the materials for a small fortune. The other items included an origin hand-cannon, several handguns, and a battleaxe, which took up a good part of Andruil’s s.p.a.ce.
After collecting the spoils, a thought occurred to Qianye while sensing the remnant suppressive might in the air. If even an arachne count couldn’t resist this power, didn’t this mean that the other lower-ranked dark race warriors would hardly survive?
This was clearly the best moment to deal a good blow to the forces chasing after the Zhang clan.
Qianye’s spirits rose immediately. He shot out like a bolt of lightning and began searching the surrounding areas. The tempest hadn’t died out yet, but Qianye relied on East Peak’s weight to remain unaffected by the storm.
This search yielded great results—within moments, Qianye had “picked up” five viscounts of various ranks. Unfortunately, he didn’t encounter another count until the end.
Counts were much stronger than viscounts—it could be a.s.sumed that they would’ve recovered by now even if they were stunned at the outset. That one arachne was simply too unlucky to have fallen right beside Qianye. There was really no one to blame for such a misfortune.
By the time the storm had settled and the remnant suppression in the air had receded, Qianye had gained much without any effort.
At this point, Qianye had already confirmed the doubt inside his heart. It was likely an imperial family member who had attacked using the Mortal Emperor, one of the ten grand magnums. This legendary gun was different from the Red Spider Lily in that it wasn’t known for its destructive power, but rather the suppressive might capable of subduing all life. The Red Spider Lily was a gun capable of shattering one’s soul, while the Mortal Emperor was a holy weapon for group combat.
There were very few in the empire capable of activating the Mortal Emperor, and there were even fewer known instances of its attack compared to the Red Spider Lily. The t.i.tle “revered by all life” was naturally an exaggeration. But the attack today had engulfed the heaven and earth with such suppression that even a count was deprived of all fighting power. Such an awe-inspiring might wasn’t really too far off from the words “revered by all life”.
It was just that the Mortal Emperor had a weakness—its suppression couldn’t discriminate between friend and foe, forcing all those with weak cultivation in its area of effect to prostrate.
Qianye couldn’t help but think of something after the remote confrontation between the Wings of Inception and the Mortal Emperor.
All this time, he hadn’t used the Wings of Inception very often. Recently, he had been saving it for use as a killing move with the Shot of Inception. As for augmenting a gun’s firepower with the Wings of Inception, normal firearms couldn’t withstand this power at all, while the Twin Flowers attracted too much attention.
However, Qianye found a renewed interest in the Wings of Inception after seeing the Mortal Emperor’s abyssal might. He wanted to know what the final version of the Black-Winged Monarch’s masterpiece would look like. The only problem was that nurturing the Wings of Inception required vast amounts of essence blood and origin power. There was no telling how many years it would take to see any results.
Qianye rose into the air and glanced at his surroundings. He saw the cloud of dust covering the distant horizon. Apparently, the Zhang clan was still pus.h.i.+ng ahead through the valley floor without ever stopping. They had clearly prepared for this by seating all the soldiers on heavy transports—the people might be affected by the Mortal Emperor, but the heavy trucks and airs.h.i.+ps were not. The advancement would continue as long as the machines were still in running condition.
Even after scanning the area with his True Sight, Qianye couldn’t find any dark race activity within his field of vision.
That single attack from the Mortal Emperor had not only injured that Evernight expert, but also intimidated most of the dark race soldiers. Apart from the few unlucky fellows that had fallen into Qianye’s hands, the rest were still hesitant and panicked. They were chasing after the Zhang clan army to hunt, but now, it was possible that they would become the prey instead. It was only natural that they wouldn’t poke their heads out before figuring out the situation.
This period was extremely precious for the Zhang clan as it afforded them some time to cover more distance. It was just that the time procured wasn’t that great. In every factional battle, the higher powers of the empire and Evernight basically kept each other in check. Now that the empire had utilized the Mortal Emperor, the Evernight Council wouldn’t just sit idly by. They might have other experts at the same level rus.h.i.+ng over to the scene.
At that point, the dark race experts who had chosen to go into temporary hiding would realize the situation and continue their pursuit.
Those who dared to intercept the Zhang clan were apparently experts in the field who possessed various methods of concealment. At least when they weren’t moving, Qianye’s Eye of Truth couldn’t find their whereabouts.
Qianye landed and soon found a good hiding place. There, he retracted his aura and began refining the recently obtained essence blood in preparation for the upcoming battle.
Within the Zhang clan flags.h.i.+p, Zhang Junshu stood solemnly before Duke Wei, and behind him, all the Zhang clan generals were present in a single file. Everyone was standing silently.
Duke Wei’s demeanor was scholarly and calm. It was just that he seemed slightly dispirited and dark flames flickered from time to time in his eye.
Zhang Junshu suddenly performed a military salute and said, “Junshu won’t ever forget your grace in this lifetime. The entire Zhang clan will also etch what you did today into our memories!”
With Zhang Junshu’s cultivation level, he could naturally see that Duke Wei’s injuries were extremely severe despite the lack of external wounds. There was so much darkness origin power rampaging throughout his body that one could see it in his eyes. This was a damage to his foundations—even if he could fully recover one day, there was no longer any hope for him to advance any further.
For a character like Duke Wei, how could he not have the desire to progress? But a heart full of lofty aspirations had been reduced to dust after today’s battle.
Duke Wei smiled naturally. “These are small matters, why all the fuss? Prince Greensun is the empire’s treasure. A small sacrifice on my part doesn’t count for much. Besides, not only did I return with my life, but even my cultivation is intact. What else can this duke ask for? You, on the other hand, must be careful. I probably won’t be of much help on the road ahead.”
Zhang Junshu said in a deep voice, “Rest a.s.sured, even if the Zhang clan can’t make it to the end, we will make those black bloods pay several times the price!”
At this moment, a bearded general under Zhang Junshu chimed in, “Humph! We can definitely finish this journey if those Zhao clan people had a greater sense for the bigger picture and sent their men to provide support.”
Zhang Junshu roared, “Shut up! When was it your turn to criticize strategy in front of Duke Wei?! I would’ve punished you according to military law if not for the upcoming battle!”
The bearded man mumbled, “This general said nothing wrong. Those Zhao clan people really know how to blow their own trumpet, but they picked the warzone furthest from action after coming to the floating continent. We’ve been fighting for our lives on the front line and have lost so many brothers. Yet, there’s still no reinforcement in sight.”
The bearded general was clearly dissatisfied, and the other generals also wore expressions of discontent. In truth, this matter was quite simple—the Zhang clan had always been the first among the four major clans and the Zhao, second. It was only natural that the members of the two clans didn’t like one another.
Zhang Junshu shot Duke Wei a glance and sighed. “These fierce b.a.s.t.a.r.ds only know how to charge the enemy and are quite shallow when it comes to strategy and statecraft. We’ve humiliated ourselves in front of you.”
With that, Zhang Junshu roared, “A group of useless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you know so little except for fighting and killing. No one listened when I asked you to read up on strategy. Scram! Go and reflect on what you did wrong! With the way you people are, you’ll lose even your pants against the Zhao clan people.”
Zhang Junshu’s authority in the army was absolute. Seeing him truly furious, all the generals under him no longer dared retort and withdrew in fear.
After the generals were dismissed, Zhang Junshu said with a wry smile, “What a joke we’ve made you watch.”
Duke Wei sighed. “Actually, they are not to blame. Even I would never have foreseen today’s situation. The Zhao clan chose that place much earlier on, which means they have long since foreseen our disadvantage in the early battles. Thus, they have focused on building up the rear instead of rus.h.i.+ng into battle. The one who made this strategic decision must be a person of great talents! It’s fine if the person is Duke You, but I fear there might be someone else. That would mean every generation of the Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan is producing great talents, and their rise will be inevitable.”
Zhang Junshu’s expression changed slightly after thinking about this. He couldn’t help but lower his voice and inquire, “Duke, could it be that even Boqian didn’t expect this to happen?”
To every member of the Zhang clan, Prince Greensun was an omnipotent character who made no mistakes. The marshal had picked the Zhang clan warzone personally. Now that they had been beaten back by the dark races, didn’t this mean that Zhang Boqian had lost to the Zhao clan in terms of strategy?
Duke Wei seemed to have guessed the man’s thoughts. “General, you’re overthinking it. It’s very likely that the prince doesn’t care much about this momentary setback. Defeating the opposing great dark monarch is the bigger picture!”
Zhang Junshu became optimistic and agreed repeatedly.
As the routed Zhang clan army crawled on through the bottom of the valley, dozens of squads split off to both sides to intercept the hara.s.sing dark race experts. It was just that they were relatively weak compared to the enemy hiding around them—it was likely that these small combat squads would never return.
The chilly wind whistled across the boundless wasteland and through the valley.
Qianye slowly opened his eyes inside a serene cave and spat out an arrow of black energy. At this moment, he had more or less refined the essence blood inside his body and auric flame blood filled all his bones and limbs. He was at the very peak and only one step away from a breakthrough.
At this moment, a gust of cold wind rushed into the cave, carrying a mournful cry from the distance.
“Has it begun?” Qianye checked the time and walked out of the cave.