Seeing Qianye glance over, Xue Wu put down the origin gun in silence—he had given up any notion of resistance.

At first, Xue Wu felt that it was somewhat ineffable, and he wasn’t really satisfied that he had been attacked in a pincer stance. But after seeing Qianye defeat Gary in three moves, he quickly realized the difference between them.

The most important point was that Qianye was only rank-twelve in origin power, two levels lower than Xue Wu and one below Gary. Hailing from a family with a long history, Xue Wu’s knowledge and eyesight were anything but ordinary. He knew that, below the easy victory, lay an excessively rare potential. If Qianye could defeat the werewolf prince in three moves now, it was likely that he would only need half a move after a couple of years.

Xue Ding, though, wasn’t as resolute—he immediately jumped up and a.s.sumed a defensive stance, only realizing his blunder later on. He quickly removed his gloves, tossed them to the ground, and said with raised hands, “Sir Qianye, it’s a misunderstanding. It was really a misunderstanding just now! That werewolf is our enemy, you see, and we were just planning to kill him.”

Qianye said indifferently, “Now that’s weird. Aren’t you the Wolf King’s foster son? Why would you want to kill your brother?”

Xue Ding knew that he would be d.a.m.ned if he replied wrong. He threw caution to the wind, saying, “I am indeed the Wolf King’s adopted son, but the king has more than ten such sons. These so-called adopted sons are actually high-ranking cannon fodder. We’ll be put to death all the same if we don’t do our job well. I performed poorly this time, contacted my original family without permission, and said bad things about the Wolf King behind his back. Any one of these is enough for capital punishment. The outcome would be disastrous if we let Gary go back alive.”

The Xue brothers had indeed shown killing intent while Qianye was fighting Gary and seemed like they were looking for an opportunity to attack. He thus nodded in recognition of Xue Ding’s words.

Qianye did have some questions, though. “Contacting one’s old family is also a crime?”

This time, it was Xue Wu who replied, “The Wolf King is a werewolf. Since coming to the Eastern Sea, he has continuously recruited his kind in order to suppress the other races. He didn’t dare to overtly bully the human race, but he has been secretly trying to whittle away at our strength, his first targets being the major families in the Eastern Sea with long lines of inheritance. Our Xue family had offended the Wolf King before and remains a nail in his eyes.”

Qianye shot a glance at Xue Ding. “Yet you still became his foster son?”

Xue Ding replied hurriedly, “It’s all for the family! The Wolf King’s foster sons are sourced from the talented younger generation of each family.”

After learning of the reasoning behind all this, Qianye said, “Kill Gary and you two may leave.”

Qianye’s demand was clever—someone of Gary’s ident.i.ty probably had certain secret arts on his body. If he were to die, and given a certain direction, it might be possible to divine the killer. If the Xue brothers dared betray Qianye in the future, the latter needed only to tell the truth. At that time, it wouldn’t be just the two brothers; even the entire Xue family would be in danger.

Sure enough, the Xue brothers also understood this. Their inheritance and knowledge wasn’t something ordinary people could compare to.

The duo showed no hesitation after hearing Qianye’s demands. With his origin gun, Xue Wu blasted what was left of Gary’s body into the air, whereupon Xue Ding jumped up and struck him behind the back of his head. Numerous strands of azure origin power appeared at the point of contact and crushed Gary’s neck bones.

After killing Gary, Xue Wu quietly circulated his origin power to connect his broken bones. Meanwhile, Xue Ding packed up the remains of Gary’s body and tossed them into the Eastern Sea. Afterward, he dug out the soil stained with the werewolf’s blood and threw them into the Black Grove.

After doing all this, Xue Ding said, “Gary killed numerous natives and stirred up a lot of trouble. After we throw his blood-stained soil into the forest, the natives there will know that he has died and thus no longer cause trouble for you. The Eastern Sea and the Black Grove are always the best places to remove remains. Even the Wolf King himself doesn’t dare to go too deep.”

The special environment of the neutral lands was a kind of knowledge in and of itself.

By the time Xue Ding had completed these things, Xue Wu had already finished connecting his broken bones. He could already stand and walk, albeit with some difficulty. He arrived in front of Qianye and bowed deeply, saying, “Your Majesty Qianye, by letting us brothers go, you ensured our Xue family’s continuation. I’ll forego a verbal expression of grat.i.tude. Our Xue family possesses a bit of power and properties in the neutral lands. If you need our family’s help, we’ll do our absolute best to help you!”

These words were spoken with great sincerity. This, however, stupefied Xue Ding. “Big Bro, did you just call Qianye His Majesty?”

“Correct.”

Be it in Evernight, the empire, or the neutral lands, the word majesty involved a strict meaning that couldn’t be abused. Even the arrogant Gary didn’t dare call himself so because, otherwise, it would only incur ridicule instead of respect.

Xue Ding had always respected this brother of his and knew that there must be a good reason for this, as opposed to senseless flattery.

It was just that he began to sweat after recalling the significance of the term “Your Majesty” and about how he had provoked this person twice.

Seeing that everything had been handled appropriately, Qianye dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Xue Wu bowed. “We’ve done our best to remove all traces, but Gary is one of the Wolf King’s two most favored sons. He will definitely investigate the cause of his death.”

Qianye knew that this was a warning of goodwill, hinting that he should leave this place.

Qianye only nodded without further comment.

The Xue brothers didn’t linger on and left rapidly on their airs.h.i.+p.

Nighteye arrived beside Qianye after the people had left. “Your killing intent was so heavy. It’s rare to see you this way.”

“Gary shouldn’t have made a move on you. There’s no way I could’ve let him off.”

Hugging Qianye from behind, she said with a slight sigh, “There will be many people who will take a fancy to me. Can you kill them all?”

Be it in terms of bloodline, appearance, or status, Nighteye was coveted by many. Even with the Monroe clan’s protection, she was still targeted by the likes of Edward and Faras. Now, the Lightless Monarch Medanzo had also expressed his interest in her bloodline.

While they were hiding in the empire, Nighteye still managed to invite trouble despite her beauty being concealed by a mask.

Additionally, they were in the neutral lands at the moment. This was a place without law and order, only violence and ferocity—anything one wanted could be obtained via robbery, and rules only existed for the strong to bind the weak. Once in public eyes, Nighteye would attract countless insects like a lamp in the cold winter night.

Qianye had already thought about this problem. He said with a shake of his sword, “There will indeed be a lot of people who have designs on you, but I will kill whoever dares to take action. One day, I will let you walk openly in the neutral lands!”

“Sigh, you dummy…” Nighteye hugged him even tighter.

There was a lone mountain on the sh.o.r.es of the Eastern Sea. On it stood a tall, fierce-looking man who was gazing at the vast waters, deep in thought.

At this moment, a series of heavy footsteps arrived from behind as a werewolf elder ascended the peak. He tapped the ground with his wooden staff and bowed deeply. “Great Chief!”

The man didn’t look back. “How many times have I told you? Here, I am called Wolf King.”

The old werewolf replied, “Since the old chief’s return to the holy mountain, you have always been the tribe’s great chief in our hearts.”

The Wolf King spoke slowly, “I have been the Wolf King since losing to Zhang Buzhou. Only when I can personally wash away this dishonor will I become the true great chief!”

“That day isn’t far off.”

The Wolf King did not comment on this. Instead, he asked, “Any news?”

“We haven’t found Young Master Gary’s whereabouts. We have, however, found out that he last went to the southern desolace and that the journey was related to the Xue family.”

The Wolf King turned around rapidly, surging with killing intent. “Xue family? Are they still restless?”

The werewolf elder replied hurriedly, “Great Chief, you cannot touch the Xue family! Killing some ordinary humans is fine, but you need a solid reason to touch a big family like the Xue. Otherwise, there will be undesirable involvements.”

The Wolf King said coldly, “Gary is dead. Now, is that reason enough?”

The werewolf elder replied, “Is Young Master Gary really dead? He has gone out to hunt on his own before, and there’s usually no news of him for the greater part of the month.”

The Wolf King whispered, “I gave him a drop of inheritance blood, and now, I can no longer sense it. As such, I’m sure he’s dead.”

“You gave him inheritance blood!? This…”

The werewolf bloodline was special. As their cultivation rises along with their life, there was a chance of them producing a drop of inheritance blood. The main purpose of this was to extend the growth phase of their descendants. To those of the Wolf King’s bloodline, extending the growth phase meant a direct improvement in potential.

It was naturally difficult to obtain something as powerful as inheritance blood. Even with the Wolf King’s cultivation, he had only produced three such drops in his entire life. Giving Gary a drop meant that he had already chosen him as the successor. Now that the prince had died, it brought the Wolf King double the pain.

“Go and investigate where Gary last appeared. Use whatever method is available to find out the culprit! Additionally, there’s no need to leave any human alive in the area. Have them accompany my son in death!”

“Your wish is my command, Chief.”

The Wolf King’s tone relaxed a bit at this point. “Any news from Zhang Buzhou? It’s been about ten years since he went into isolated cultivation.”

The werewolf elder said with a wry smile, “It’s not like you don’t know, that person has always been cautious and also quite proficient in divination. He won’t reveal such an important matter even to the people closest to him. How can we know? Besides, this person’s secret arts are bizarre and powerful. He will know if one so much as speaks his name. Only you can utter it without a care.”