Drowned in despair after failing to forge the gun, the Pointer Monarch came to realize just how peerless the Black-Winged Monarch’s Wings of Inception were. It was just that there was no certainty whether this kind of complete spirit-form weapon would ever be completed. After all, even the Black-Winged Monarch wasn’t able to finish it back then.
The Pointer Monarch had always been proud and arrogant. How could he be resigned after the utter failure with the refinement? After seeing an exceptional raw material that was the Earth Dragon’s remains, he immediately felt hopeful about forging a different path to compete against Andruil.
Such a material was beyond rare—the Pointer Monarch wracked his brains and finally decided to forge a giant airs.h.i.+p, the likes of which the empire had never seen before. His design was unique since he wanted to use the dragon’s skeleton as the s.h.i.+p’s framework and its heart as the main font of energy. This would allow the Earth Dragon’s flesh to grow in a set pattern and form the wars.h.i.+p’s foundations. He would then build all kinds of weaponry on the flesh.
This wars.h.i.+p, once built, would be a flying city of boundless might. The inexhaustible supply of power from the Earth Dragon energy source would be able to support a great number of weapons. The resultant vessel would far surpa.s.s any mothers.h.i.+p or battles.h.i.+p, so much so that it could implement super-powerful weapons that had only ever existed in theory.
Such a wars.h.i.+p could not only rampage across the empire but would also be able to suppress every known Evernight vessel. Perhaps only the airs.h.i.+ps of those characters on the sacred mountains would be able to contend with it. Among the three supreme existences of the sacred mountains, only the arachne had revealed his airs.h.i.+p occasionally. The others’ vessels had never been seen before, so there was no way to compare.
However, the emergence of this super wars.h.i.+p caused a storm among the upper echelons of the empire.
Controlled by a heavenly monarch, this airs.h.i.+p could wipe out any aristocratic family, and even the imperial family wouldn’t be able to go against it. One had to remember that the Pointer Monarch was one of the two heavenly monarchs of the imperial family. He had just ascended to power back then, but even the Longevity Monarch wouldn’t be his match with this wars.h.i.+p in the equation. If the other heavenly monarchs were to remain neutral, not even the imperial family would be able to stop the Pointer Monarch from transforming the power distribution of this world.
To be completely frank, the Pointer Monarch would have a pretty good chance of taking the treasured throne if he wanted to, even though his maternal lineage wasn’t as celebrated.
He had just finished the giant airs.h.i.+p’s framework when the empire withdrew all support and used every method at their disposal to take the control rights away from the Pointer Monarch. Ji Wentian’s purpose for constructing the Martyr’s Palace was to commemorate his late wife and to contend with the Black-Winged Monarch—yet the empire had a different opinion.
At the mention of this, the Pointer Monarch’s projection sighed. “I’ve never wanted that position, but what’s the use? If they think you want it, then that becomes a fact.”
Cold and dejected, the Pointer Monarch finally sealed the giant wars.h.i.+p here, along with numerous traps and mechanisms. These arrangements were to prevent other people from touching the Martyr’s Palace. The requirements put in place were so harsh that an ordinary divine champion would fall into great peril. Only heavenly monarchs would be able to break through by force.
However, the Pointer Monarch giving up on building the Martyr’s Palace didn’t mean he had no temper. With him watching the place, which heavenly monarch would dare to go over and s.n.a.t.c.h the wars.h.i.+p? On the other hand, those below the heavenly monarch realm would face grave dangers in the neutral lands and run the risk of dying at any time.
Elder Wei had arrived here in secret, carrying numerous heavenly-monarch-level tricks up his sleeves. He had also contacted the local powers and gained the help of a divine champion like Caroline who could hide from the Earth Dragon’s protection—it took all of that to finally make it to the top. Just those ancient scrolls and sacred seals alone should’ve taken the military great effort to produce. To be blunt, even a rank seventeen expert could contend with a divine champion with such items in their possession.
If it wasn’t for the Pointer Monarch’s gun barrel and Caroline switching sides mid-way, the Martyr’s Palace would have fallen into Elder Wei’s hands.
As if he understood what Qianye was thinking, the pointer monarch said with a smile, “How could my traps stop there? Trying to activate the Martyr’s Palace without a top-grade daybreak origin power is simply courting death. Whether it’s that Wei brat or Caroline, they’ll die in a couple of days if not outright.”
Qianye was immediately drenched in cold sweat. How could he endure a trap that was capable of injuring Elder Wei and Caroline? Perhaps it was better to let the Martyr’s Palace remain in hibernation.
The Pointer Monarch laughed out loud. “You possess Venus Dawn, so my powers can’t hurt you.”
After a moment of contemplation, Qianye decided to ask about a subject that had been lingering in his heart. “You should’ve seen through me and know that I have a vampire bloodline. How can you trust that I will always stand on the side of the humans?”
The Pointer Monarch said in a carefree manner, “Whether one’s heart is with the human race has nothing to do with his bloodline. You resonated with my mind, so I naturally know yours as well. What a pity those clowns in the empire keep prancing about. They even forced someone like you away in their jealousy of virtue and ability, humph!”
At this point, Qianye had no more doubt.
The Pointer Monarch gazed at the fledgling Martyr’s Palace and sighed meaningfully. “It’s been so many years. Now that I’ve finally gotten rid of the thorn in my heart, I can finally leave.”
“Senior…” Qianye felt something wrong in the Pointer Monarch’s tone.
The monarch said indifferently, “I’m only a remnant-will left behind by the main body. He severed our connection after setting everything up, likely so that he could bury this part of his memories in the neutral lands. I was left to endure the pain of yearning for dozens of years, but now I can finally rest. The moment you activate the Martyr’s Palace, I will vanish completely from this world.”
After a brief pause, the Pointer Monarch said, “If you ever return to the empire one day, it’s best that you don’t discuss the things here with my main body. This is where he buried his heart, so he probably doesn’t want to remember anything about it. And so many years have pa.s.sed, who knows what his temperament is like right now? But you have to remember, people like me are never softhearted or merciful.”
Shaken at heart, Qianye expressed his grat.i.tude.
The Pointer Monarch said calmly, “Enough talking, I’ve said all that needs to be spoken. What you do from now on depends on you. But I’ll give you one more reminder out of consideration for the Martyr’s Palace. The resources needed for divine champions are already quite rare, and the shortage is even worse for heavenly monarchs. What we have in the entire empire isn’t even enough for a single heavenly monarch, let alone four. The path of each heavenly monarch is forged through combat. Even if Evernight doesn’t attack the empire, the empire will surely bring the fight to them. This is one of the reasons.”
The Pointer Monarch’s consciousness had been here for many years and still didn’t know about Zhang Boqian’s ascension. But Qianye recalled how the latter had gone to “visit” the Profundity Monarch before his breakthrough. Now that he thought about it, that visit might not be as simple as a mere challenge.
The Pointer Monarch gazed at the Martyr’s Palace, heaving a soft sigh as his figure gradually faded away. The scenery in front of Qianye became distorted, and he returned to the stone hall once more.
He had spent so much time in the illusory realm, yet in the real world, he saw that Caroline was still observing the brazier and was completely oblivious to the change. One had to remember that she was a divine champion—the Pointer Monarch had deployed an illusion in front of her and brought Qianye into the mountain behind the hall, all without her notice. His capabilities were quite terrifying. But then again, the Pointer Monarch had always been the number one expert and pillar of the empire, so it was normal for him to be that powerful.
At this point, Caroline looked up and said in suprise, “Something’s changed about you.”
“How so?”
Caroline stared fixedly at Qianye for a long while. “I can’t put my finger on it, but your aura is somehow different.”
As a smart person, she understood after some contemplation. “You received more pointers from the monarch?”
“It’s an illusory realm,” Qianye admitted.
Caroline sighed lightly. “How enviable.”
Both of them understood that Caroline couldn’t receive the inheritance due to her lack of apt.i.tude. In other words, the Pointer Monarch didn’t look upon her favorably—but things like that couldn’t be forced. It was obvious from the arrangements of the Heartseeker Path that this fragment of the Pointer Monarch’s will was easily capable of borrowing the Earth Dragon’s power to kill a couple of divine champions. Hence, Caroline looked somewhat regretful, but she didn’t have any other thoughts.
Qianye walked over to the stone table and moved it to the side as he had seen in the illusory world. The walls slowly moved away to reveal the pa.s.sage behind.
Qianye picked up the engine box. “Let’s go, the Martyr’s Palace is inside.”
The two advanced along the path and soon reached the center of the mountains. The place was identical to the chamber he had seen in the illusion.
The grand structure in front caused Caroline’s expression to change. Her entire body trembled, and her countenance turned pale when her eyes fell onto the giant heart.
“What’s wrong?” Qianye felt something was off.
Caroline glanced at the defect in the heart, saying, “Is that where the engine goes? Is this Martyr’s Palace really a wars.h.i.+p?”
“It is.” Qianye hid nothing from her.
Her countenance gradually recovered as electric sparks leapt about over her body. Apparently, she had utilized great power in order to resist the pressure from the Earth Dragon’s heart.
Qianye was curious—the Earth Dragon’s heart was indeed emitting pressure, but it would cause his heart to tighten slightly at most, and the feeling would disappear with a bit of suppression. Caroline was much stronger than him, so why was it so difficult for her to endure? Could it be that she had suffered some internal damage during the ascent? But Qianye hadn’t noticed any signs of discomfort from her before.
“You go over, I’ll wait here,” said Caroline.
Qianye didn’t refuse. He picked up the engine from the box and, keeping his reflexive nervousness in check, walked step by step toward the heart. As he got closer to the heart, he could feel the suppressive might increase exponentially, and the faint sounds of b.e.s.t.i.a.l roars echoed in his ears. At this point, Qianye’s body was overcome by an inherent fear—his heart had slowed down to the point of nearly stopping. His blood core was pulsing tenaciously, but its frequency had also fallen sharply.
If Qianye were purely human, his vitality would’ve withered and died from the terror of standing before the Earth Dragon’s heart. Even his ancient vampire bloodline powers were somewhat lacking compared to the favored children of the world.
Qianye was in no rush to put the engine in place. Instead, he took in the suppressive might of the Earth Dragon’s heart for a while. His three daybreak origin vortices fluctuated in the wake of this incoming suppression and neutralized a fair part of it. Otherwise, Qianye would never be able to reach the heart even with his vampiric const.i.tution—this thing was a powerful weapon of destruction, reaping all life wherever it stood.
This was likely the effect of his Venus Dawn.
Qianye picked up the engine and placed it in the defect. Then, he activated the switch according to the instructions and placed three drops of Earth Dragon’s blood in the fuel chamber. The engine let out a light hum as its sh.e.l.l popped open. Countless sharp needles reached out from the engine and pierced into the silver heart, effectively merging the two parts together.
One key step remained. Qianye opened a cover on the engine sh.e.l.l and placed East Peak on his wrist. All he needed now was to pour his fresh blood into the engine, and this merged machine would permanently record Qianye’s information. In the future, Qianye would possess perpetual and unique authority over the airs.h.i.+p—that was unless they destroyed the engine and made a new one. But even the imperial military would need several years to complete such a task.
Instead of making his move, Qianye looked back and asked, “It’ll be too late if you don’t do it now.”