“Compensation? What kind of compensation can outdo a dragons.h.i.+p?” Caroline shot a glance at Claudia. “Has Mask’s aspirations gone so wild that he wants to unify the neutral lands?”

Claudia was shaken because she knew that Caroline was warning her. If news of the dragons.h.i.+p were to spread, it wasn’t just the surrounding experts—even the supreme characters of the neutral lands might come to rob the prize. No matter how powerful Mask was, he wouldn’t be able to contend against everyone.

But how could Claudia give up on the dragons.h.i.+p at this point? She said through clenched teeth, “That’s not for me to worry about. Your Excellency Caroline, please help me seize this dragons.h.i.+p first!”

Caroline shot a glance at Qianye and shrugged. “I owe Mask a favor, so I’ll feel bad about attacking them. I’ll just stay out this time, you can deal with these two fellows, right?”

“What’s so difficult about that?” Qianye replied indifferently.

Claudia was shocked. “Your Excellency Caroline! You’re helping this b.a.s.t.a.r.d!?”

Caroline waved her hands. “Wrong, I said I’m not helping anyone.”

Claudia still couldn’t understand why Caroline was suddenly on Qianye’s side. Bluemoon shouted, “Go!”

Her words hadn’t even ended when she opened fire at Qianye. Claudia understood that she could only a.s.sume Caroline wouldn’t join the fight at this point. Taking Qianye down took precedence, so she drew her sword and slashed at Qianye.

Qianye destroyed the incoming origin bullet with a swing of his left hand and, at the same time, slashed at Claudia with East Peak!

This slash contained such extreme weight that the surrounding s.p.a.ce seemed to be dragged along with the blade’s descent. Claudia’s body floated upward for a brief moment and actually drifted toward the incoming sword!

Shocked out of her wits, she could no longer pay attention to attacking Qianye. She turned her sword about and swung it toward East Peak, planning to deflect Qianye’s heavy sword with her exquisite swordplay. As the two blades came into contact, a raging tidal-wave of origin power erupted from East Peak. The impact utterly destroyed her own origin power, defeating it entirely.

Greatly astonished, Claudia had to drive her darkness origin power to the max in order to barely force down Qianye’s Venus Dawn. This made her advancement rather c.u.mbersome and prevented her from putting her sword arts to use.

The two blades came together with a loud clang! An invisible ripple spread out in all directions—the Earth Dragon’s flesh remained unaffected, but a fair part of the stony outer layer was blown away.

A flushed Claudia took several steps back in quick succession. This attack had turned into a contest of brute force between the two parties. She might be one level higher in terms of origin power, but her physical strength was far inferior compared to Qianye. East Peak was also incomparably heavy and powerful; a single slash from it almost knocked Claudia’s sword out of her grasp.

Qianye wasn’t about to give her breathing s.p.a.ce. He arrived in front of her in a single step and slashed down with great force!

This slash caused the surrounding s.p.a.ce to become stagnant. The intense pressure bore down upon Claudia’s body and made difficult for her to evade. She knew that this was a domain power, but she had no extra strength to play this game with Qianye. Numerous sanguineous patterns appeared on her body, but that much exertion was only enough for self-preservation.

“Clang!” Claudia took yet another blow from Qianye, staggering a dozen steps backward from the impact. Qianye followed in large strides, launching a raging torrent of slashes at his target.

This was an unreasonable method of fighting, but Claudia simply had no way to deal with it. The Oceanic Vortex and East Peak stopped her from displaying her powerful sword arts and forced her to take each blow in the clumsiest of manners. She was really hoping for Bluemoon’s help at this moment, but there had been no movement at all from the Highbeard girl.

Claudia glanced around but found no traces of Bluemoon. Apparently, she had gone into stealth mode and was waiting for an opportunity to deal the killing blow. There was no telling how long Claudia could last or if she would even survive this ordeal, yet Bluemoon was still waiting for the ideal moment. Was she trying to borrow Qianye’s hand to kill her? Claudia was full of hatred, but there was nothing she could do.

At this moment, Bluemoon was also feeling quite stifled as she roamed about from several dozen meters away. The Oceanic Vortex would grow stronger whenever she approached Qianye. Due to her firm willpower and the support of her mechanical parts, she enjoyed a high resistance to the Earth Dragon’s pressure. But the Oceanic Vortex applied weight straight onto her body and was the bane of her existence. There were no shortcuts to use against this domain, only pure power.

This slowed down her movements and sharply increased the difficulty of her ambush. Stealth was one of her advantages, but for some reason, she would sense extreme danger whenever she approached Qianye—it felt as if she would suffer an immediate counterattack. Bluemoon had to suppress her power to remain in a stealthed state, which meant that she couldn’t take on a single blow from Qianye.

Bluemoon noticed Claudia’s plight, as well as the key to her loss. But what could she do after several failed approaches? Bluemoon even thought about taking an all-out risk, but Qianye would always look in her direction if she so much as stepped a bit closer. A subconscious notion popped up in Bluemoon’s mind—could he see her?

Qianye was feeling just as helpless regarding Bluemoon. At first, he had wanted to lure the girl in and kill her. He had planned to use the Oceanic Vortex to restrain her movements and launch an area attack with Sweeping Calm, severely wounding her in a single blow. Who knew Bluemoon’s intuition would be so sharp? Moreover, she was fairly cautious and only circled around him without attacking.

Her caution was both good and bad. Although Qianye couldn’t see Bluemoon with his True Sight, the origin flow within his domain would reveal an outline of her figure. Hence, Qianye simply ignored Bluemoon and let loose on Claudia, pus.h.i.+ng her to the verge of collapse.

While Bluemoon was hesitating, Claudia’s sword was knocked away with a loud clang, and Qianye rammed into her right afterward. Claudia was flung away, feeling as though she had been struck by a void colossus. She crashed onto one of the Earth Dragon’s ribs and gradually slid down from it.

Her face was flushed red and blood streaked out of the corners of her mouth. She glared at Qianye with fierce eyes but didn’t even have the power to raise an arm.

Bluemoon made a prompt decision to turn tail and run. However, this decision came too late. The pressure over her increased sharply, causing her overloaded kinetic mechanisms to creak and groan. Meanwhile, an expressionless Qianye arrived before her in a flash and sw.a.n.g East Peak down on her head!

“I surrender!!!” Bluemoon screamed.

East Peak let out a soft hum as it stopped right atop her head. A little bit further and it would’ve split her head into two.

Bluemoon stared at the sharp edge with eyes full of terror. Her hood had been split into two—her long hair danced about in the wind as a streak of blood ran down from between them. Pale and terrified, Bluemoon didn’t dare to move a single inch, lest she be cut into two halves.

She waited for a moment, but that which she feared the most didn’t happen. Only then did Bluemoon heave a sigh of relief and her face became less flushed.

Qianye didn’t pull East Peak back just yet. He said indifferently, “Give me one reason not to kill you.”

“I’m very useful!” Bluemoon regained her confidence after escaping the threat of death.

Qianye looked on in silence.

After failing to receive the expected reply, Bluemoon said with a forced smile, “I’m the s.h.i.+eldmaiden of the Highbeard tribe, equal to a holy daughter in other organizations. If you let me go, the tribe will be very grateful.”

Qianye smiled calmly. “Don’t test my patience. Say something useful, this is your last chance.”

Bluemoon had no choice but to toss out her ace card. “I can help you repair the dragons.h.i.+p!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“All Highbeards are master machinists. This dragons.h.i.+p’s kinetic and structural principles are beyond my scope, but that’s just the core system. A true legendary wars.h.i.+p isn’t only about the core system—defense, radar, weaponry, and even crew entertainment facilities are very important. These things don’t require profound knowledge. We Highbheards have been mercenaries for hundreds of years, and we have sufficient channels to get you these facilities.”

“In the end, you just want me to let you go.” Qianye’s eyes were cold.

Bluemoon replied with some difficulty, “I can remain on the s.h.i.+p, at your side. Will that do?”

“Not yet.”

Bluemoon bit her lips. “Then what do you want?”

Bluemoon wasn’t exactly a peerless talent, but she was still quite delicate and pretty. It was just that her cold expression and the Highbeards’ notoriety took away from her attraction. At the moment, though, she really hoped her appearance would be of some help in softening Qianye’s heart.

But Qianye’s words destroyed her hopes. “Remove all your weaponry and extra kinetic equipment, only leave enough for basic movement. You can stay if you agree to this.”

Bluemoon’s face turned pale. As smart as she was, she didn’t ask what would happen if she were to refuse. There wasn’t a need to, either, because Qianye would’ve killed her immediately.

“I agree.” These words were spoken with great difficulty. Then, under Qianye’s cold eyes, Bluemoon clenched her teeth and started to remove her clothes.

No matter how complicated one’s apparel was, there could be no more than a few articles. Moments later, Bluemoon was standing naked in front of Qianye. She was quite clear-cut with her actions—knowing that she couldn’t escape this ordeal, she removed everything down to her underwear.

This was perhaps the first time the Highbeard s.h.i.+eldmaiden’s true appearance had been revealed to the world.

The outline of Bluemoon’s body was quite elegant, but there were signs of modification all over her. Her left arm was mostly machine, with only a small part of actual flesh remaining. Her right arm was actually intact, but there was a silvery line under her fingers. Apparently, there were also modifications under her skin.

Her left breast was complete, but her right chest had been replaced by a sheet of metal. Through the translucent cap, one could see two pieces of high-purity black crystals embedded inside the machinery. This was the source of energy driving her machinery.

The modifications to the lower half of her body were even more evident. Almost every joint was host to an independent kinetic system, and there was a bright silver plate on her abdomen to protect the vital organs within.

In addition to all that, there were a dozen or so blue metallic nodes spread across her body. Qianye reached out to touch these round nodes and found that they were rather warm, and their texture felt both metallic and gem-like. He had no idea what they were used for.

“What are these things for?” Qianye inquired.