The condensation effect of the Book of Darkness was far inferior to that of the blood core. The essence blood emerging from the blood core would either be absorbed by the dark golden blood energy or transform into auric flame blood. The Book of Darkness only served to remove some impurities and concentrate the blood, barely qualifying it for use. It seemed like everything Qianye didn’t need would be absorbed by the book.
The advantage of the Book of Darkness was its speed. It would only need half a day to refine enough essence blood to recover a Shot of Inception. With the Book of Darkness in hand, Qianye’s ability to engage in prolonged fights would increase sharply. The only bad thing was that the book’s refinement consumed much more essence blood.
Linken required half a day to suppress her injuries, hence she gave Qianye half a day’s time.
With all the demonkin wars.h.i.+ps on the retreat, the Martyr’s Palace was left hovering silently in the void, not unlike a sleeping monster.
The high-speed wars.h.i.+p slowly approached while flas.h.i.+ng its signal lights. On one hand, it was to announce that it came in peace, while on the other, it was asking the two cargo s.h.i.+ps to do the same.
The two cargo s.h.i.+ps hesitated for a while. In the end, however, they pulled in unwillingly since they knew they couldn’t outrun the highspeed wars.h.i.+p.
A small vessel flew out from the highspeed wars.h.i.+p and, pa.s.sing through a hole in the wall of the Martyr’s Palace, landed in its abdomen. The bearded captain and his first mate were immediately overwhelmed by the grandiosity of the place and couldn’t speak for a long while.
The bearded captain finally recovered from his shock and bowed toward Qianye. “This lowly one is Ma Wendong. I’ve been following the seventh young master all this time and have also worked in the imperial fleet before. The young master had described the Martyr’s Palace to me but seeing it in person is definitely different. There’s really such a wars.h.i.+p in the world!”
“Since he’s told you about the Martyr’s Palace, it means he trusts you. Where are the goods? I’m here to pick them up. Also, pick out a group of people to take charge of installing the equipment on my airs.h.i.+p. I want reliable people.” With that Qianye pa.s.sed Song Zining’s token to Ma Wendong.
After inspecting the token in detail, the captain proceeded to discuss something with the first mate. He then said, “Sire Qianye, this encounter with the demonkin fleet is an unfortunate coincidence. Linken will be back soon, what will you do then?”
Qianye smiled. “Giving me half a day is her biggest mistake. She cannot defeat me on the Martyr’s Palace.”
Ma Wendong looked up at the tall, stifling domed roof. “Sire, if this ma.s.sive s.h.i.+p is ever fully constructed and manned, it will equal an entire fleet.”
The first mate nodded. “Tens of thousands of men won’t be enough. We can fit an entire imperial division on the airs.h.i.+p for landing and occupation.”
Ma Wendong said seriously, “Sire Qianye, the two cargo s.h.i.+ps were already showing signs of surrender before you arrived. I think we should have them stay behind on the Martyr’s Palace. I will send people to drive the s.h.i.+ps back and also leave a group to stay behind and monitor them. After we figure out who devised the submission, the seventh young master will find a way to deal with them.”
Nodding, Qianye proceeded to discuss the details regarding the transfer of goods. At this point, the first mate pointed at the ma.s.sive remains of a s.h.i.+p drifting over from the distance. “Isn’t that the wreckage of Linken’s flags.h.i.+p? Sire, that’s some good stuff right there. Even the materials in it are worth a lot of money.”
The words served to remind Qianye. He set aside the transfer procedure temporarily and moved the Martyr’s Palace toward the wreckage. The Earth Dragon opened its mouth like a living creature and swallowed the wreckage whole.
Linken’s flags.h.i.+p could be considered a megas.h.i.+p both in the Empire and Evernight, yet compared to the Martyr’s Palace, it was truly a bite-sized piece of food that could be swallowed whole. The Earth Dragon’s remnant instincts kicked in once the giant s.h.i.+pwreck had entered the abdomen, immediately restraining and immobilizing it.
In addition to Linken’s flags.h.i.+p, Qianye had also destroyed several other wars.h.i.+ps. He decided not to hold back and simply proceeded to devour all the wreckages. Even if none of their equipment were salvageable, the recycled material themselves would make for a small fortune. Demonkin wars.h.i.+ps were known for their premium materials and great craftsmans.h.i.+p.
He had just finished the harvest when an indescribable suppressive might descended upon the Martyr’s Palace. Everyone at the scene could sense a frigid intent blanketing the area, one that was both terrifying and familiar. Linken had returned.
She arrived alone at the bow of the s.h.i.+p, looking down at Qianye who was on the Earth Dragon’s head. “I’m back.”
That was all she was willing to say. It was almost as though saying more would be an embarra.s.sment to her prideful self. Neither did she have any intention of letting Qianye speak. She dived straight for the target like a meteor, forgoing all forms of evasion or footwork.
Nonetheless, a brief flicker of golden radiance erupted in the void as Qianye fired the Shot of Inception. Retreating as quickly as she had arrived, Linken roared furiously, “How come you have one more shot?!”
“I can have as many as I want!” Qianye replied with a laugh.
Unfortunately, she could no longer hear it. Her figure had long since left and vanished into the depths of the void. Judging from her speed it would seem she had gone all out.
Qianye didn’t give chase since he knew he couldn’t catch up. He turned to Ma Wendong, saying, “Issue a signal to the cargo s.h.i.+ps. Have them approach and unload.”
“Will she not return?” Ma Wen dong asked hesitantly.
Even someone as valiant as the captain was apprehensive of Linken. Being alive was always a good thing, even to people unafraid of death. If Qianye hadn’t arrived with the Martyr’s Palace, Ma Wendong could never have escaped destruction. Linken wouldn’t even need to use her main cannon to destroy his s.h.i.+p.
“No, that strike just now is enough to make her suffer.”
Just now, Linken had grossly underestimated her opponent, thinking Qianye was already drained of energy. She never would’ve imagined that Qianye would condense yet another Shot of Inception in just half a day. Caught entirely off-guard, she suffered a square shot and was immediately injured. She didn’t even have time for threats before running away.
It was clear that she wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. She might not even reach her wars.h.i.+p if she were to linger about. Linken’s combat strength was above the Wolf King’s but the demonkin were never known for strong bodies. Her defenses weren’t as good as the latter’s—the werewolf could still fight after taking a Shot of Inception but this attack deprived the injured Linken of all combat potential. That was why Qianye was certain she wouldn’t return.
Ma Wendong returned to the highspeed wars.h.i.+p and sent the message himself. His wording was extremely harsh.
The two cargo s.h.i.+ps slowly approached the Martyr’s Palace and were swallowed into the Earth Dragon one by one. With how big the palace was, there was still leftover s.p.a.ce after swallowing the demonkin wreckages and two cargo s.h.i.+ps.
The crew of the cargo s.h.i.+ps emerged in a single file as the doors opened up. Most of the men were dumbfounded after emerging from their vessels. Seeing the Martyr’s Palace from a distance was one thing, but standing within it was a completely different level of shock and awe.
A couple of the men looked evidently dispirited. Qianye knew without asking that they were probably the people who had urged the surrender. There was really no right or wrong in this matter since it was human nature speaking on the verge of death. Nonetheless, since Song Zining trusted them so much, they should have at least destroyed the goods before surrendering.
Despite all that, they were Song Zining’s men, so Qianye didn’t want to get involved with his internal problems. Hence, he said to Ma Wendong, “You handle this, I’m going to rest now. Seek me out if anything important happens.”
Ma Wendong bowed respectfully. “Rest a.s.sured, Young n.o.ble. I’ll make proper arrangements for both the men and the goods.” After seeing Qianye push back Linken, this powerful officer’s att.i.tude toward Qianye had transformed unknowingly.
Qianye returned to the head of the Earth Dragon and sat down cross-legged. There, he ordered the palace to return to the Eastern Sea while he himself proceeded to rest with his eyes closed.
Half a day went by, and Qianye had completed a full cycle of his cultivation. His body was full of origin power, just waiting for the Glory Chapter to slowly digest. He saw Ma Wendong standing several dozen meters away as he opened his eyes, clearly waiting to say something but not daring to approach.
Qianye rose. “Is anything the matter?”
Man Wendong rubbed his hands in excitement. “I’ve made arrangements for the crew and goods. There’s a wonderful surprise sir! The segment of Linken’s flags.h.i.+p you took in was the forepart and its main cannon is still intact! I’ve already done some inspections. It can be used after connecting kinetic power!”
Qianye was delighted. “Really? Let’s go and see.”
Inside the hold of the Martyr’s Palace, what remained of the flags.h.i.+p stood manifestly superior amidst the surrounding wreckage, including the two cargo s.h.i.+ps.
The s.h.i.+p was severed by the Martyr’s Palace while preparing to fire. So, the cannon port was wide open at the moment, revealing the faint golden l.u.s.ter of a magical main cannon. This was the first time Qianye had come across this type of ballista-cannon design. Ignoring the pros and cons of its designs for now, one could easily imagine how powerful it was from the chill Qianye had felt from his blood core the moment this cannon took aim.
There were some demonkin runes imprinted upon the cannon: Landsinker.
This was the cannon’s name.
Qianye meditated on its name for a moment before asking, “Is it usable?”
Ma Wendong felt a bit awkward. “Well… it needs an energy source. I’ve never seen such a powerful main cannon, so I can only guess that we’ll need a ma.s.sive amount of energy. Sire, your s.h.i.+p is great, but in terms of energy…”
Qianye knew clearly the situation of his wars.h.i.+p. The Martyr’s Palace mostly relied on its inherent power to fly and s.p.a.ce jump, the energy for which was supplied by the heart. Otherwise, there was no current technology capable of driving such a ma.s.sive vessel. Be it the kinetic sails or wars.h.i.+p engines, they were basically just auxiliary sources of energy. If the heart were lost, no number of engines would be able to make up for it.
That was the reason both Song Zining and Bluemoon had both placed less emphasis on the construction of the kinetic systems. It was also because there wasn’t enough manpower on the airs.h.i.+p and the installation of sails and engines required significant resources—it just wasn’t feasible at this stage. Hence, there weren’t nearly enough engines or fuel on the airs.h.i.+p right now.
What they had on board could hardly fuel an ordinary demonkin wars.h.i.+p’s main cannon, let alone Linken’s.