[V6C73 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye had seen no small number of factional conflicts in the army, so he immediately decided to respond with indifference. He walked over to the wrestling ring and proceeded to spectate in silence.
The winner quickly became evident. One of them activated a secret art, rapidly increasing his strength and gaining an overwhelming advantage. He pinned the opponent to the ground in the blink of an eye. However, his mighty state lasted a mere minute before turning incomparably weak.
The spectators immediately broke into a clamor. Some were furious, while others were delighted as they began settling the money—one had to honor his bets. In the blink of an eye, another two men began rolling their sleeves for the next fight.
Qianye finally spoke at this point, “We stop here. Everyone from the vanguard battalion, assemble on the drill grounds!”
Qianye’s voice wasn’t loud but it reverberated throughout the entire barracks. Even those in the living quarters could hear him clearly. Everyone was visibly moved because this was no trifling feat. Some unbridled soldiers glanced at Qianye coldly and asked, “Who are you?”
Qianye’s eyes swept over all the soldiers of the vanguard battalion. “I’m the newly appointed commander of the first vanguard battalion. What? Does no one here recognize me? Not even one?”
Everyone looked away subconsciously wherever his gaze fell. Since Qianye had remembered them, they were likely veterans from the bloody battle. They could still play dumb before he asked, but they couldn’t just pretend to not know now that the question was on the table.
The situation instantly became frosty, and the drill grounds became deathly silent. No one replied, and no one assembled.
Qianye didn’t seem to be in a rush, either. He even lit up a cigarette and began smoking in silence. It looked as though he was thinking of something.
However, prolonged silence instilled greater anxiety in everyone’s hearts. Those who had come from the Western Continent had only heard the rumors, but the veterans of the bloody battle knew this god of murder very well. It was just that the situation before them was the Zhao clan’s internal business, and to these descendants and mercenaries, Qianye was the real outsider.
At this moment, Qianye listed his possible opponents in the Zhao clan. Up until this point, the only person he had openly offended was Zhao Fenglei, and, perhaps, people from the Duke Yan lineage.
However, the enemies in the dark weren’t a certainty. Zhao Weihuang had risen from the side branch to claim the clan lord position, and now, Zhao Jundu was rampaging through all adversity—this alone was enough to gain them countless enemies. Qianye was registered under their branch, and without any special status like Zhao Junhong, it was no wonder he would be discriminated against.
Moreover, the major clans had never lacked internal conflicts. Perhaps Qianye had never offended anyone, but merely taking up a slot in Zhao Jundu’s secondary residence had inadvertently blocked off many a person’s futures. This was reason enough to form a deep enmity.
Qianye suddenly felt a bit frustrated. He had no interest at all in schemes and political struggles. He requested to be assigned to the vanguard because he wanted more contributions and to reduce the Zhao clan soldiers’ casualties in the most dangerous areas. Someone was looking to stir up trouble with a war at hand, and this filled Qianye with disgust.
A simple and naive notion appeared in Qianye’s mind. He wanted to exchange his military contributions for an amnesty order as soon as possible so that Nighteye could leave safely if her vampire identity was one day exposed.
The cigarette in his hand was finished in the blink of an eye, but still, no one responded. Qianye flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it with his foot. “I will ask again, is there no one here from the vanguard battalion?”
This was a shedding of all pretenses, no longer a situation ordinary soldiers could handle.
The imposing man across the wrestling ring finally spoke, “Young Noble Qianye, all the brothers originally from the first vanguard battalion have applied to join the second battalion. It’s only normal that there’s no one here to reply.”
Qianye’s eyes finally fell on the man and sized him up from head to toe. “Who are you?”
The man replied, “My name is Zhao Guanwei. I’ve been fighting on the frontlines on the Western Continent. I’ve fought many wars against the rebel army and the dark races, and I’ve also seen some counts and whatnot. Fortunately, I managed to keep my life. I never had the time to participate in the so-called bloody battle since it’s just a battlefield for the young to polish themselves. I only came to experience Evernight Continent after the empire mobilized its forces.”
Zhao Guanwei’s words were quite polite but actually implied that the bloody battle was, due to the level restrictions, a child’s game and not a true battle.
Qianye’s expression sank as he looked coldly at Zhao Guanwei. He decided not to give him any more face.
Qianye had experienced numerous life and death situations in the bloody battle. Comrades and brothers had fallen in droves as the Zhao clan suffered great casualties. It was a battle led by the younger generations of the two factions, a conflict befitting of its name. The level of cruelty involved was no less than the frontlines of the imperial army.
Those experiences, those people who had been laid to eternal rest, how could they suffer Zhao Guanwei’s humiliation?
Qianye exhaled deeply and said with a finger pointed at Zhao Guanwei, “The main point of the army is to be able to charge and kill enemies. We shall talk with our fists, whoever loses shall scram out of the camp. I want to see what makes a rank-eleven champion confident enough to block my way!”
Zhao Guanwei was momentarily astonished because he had never expected Qianye to be so direct. After listening to Qianye’s words, he laughed furiously and said, “Very well, since a rank-eleven champion is not qualified, I’ll see what a rank-ten like you can do!”
With that, he walked over in large strides and stood firmly ten meters away from Qianye, flexing his wrists. “Your daddy won’t take advantage of you, I’ll be using these bare hands to teach you a lesson. Use whatever weapon you have!”
Zhao Guanwei folded his sleeves to reveal two alloy armguards. The armor was fairly thick and heavy, with several sharp barbs sticking out from them. They could be used as weapons as well as shields. He apparently favored close-quarter combat, and most of his skills were likely related to these armguards.
Qianye couldn’t bother to argue who was trying to gain an advantage. With a sheathed East Peak in hand, he arrived before Zhao Guanwei in a single step.
Qianye pierced East Peak into the ground before Zhao Guanwei, sheath and all. This simple movement produced a thunderous sound which reverberated throughout the entire drill ground.
All the vanguard soldiers at the fore were sent stumbling under the suppression of this oceanic might and collapsed in droves. Only the most valiant of experts remained standing, but snapping out of the shock, they too pulled back with pale faces.
Zhao Guanwei, who had suffered the brunt of this attack, went red in the face, his bones creaking and groaning. He could barely stand and didn’t even have the power to move his hands. The other soldiers only suffered the peripheral shockwaves, while over half of the power was focused on Zhao Guanwei’s body. One could easily imagine the pressure he was under.
Qianye had held nothing back with this attack and was rather surprised to see Zhao Guanwei still standing. With a push of his hand, however, East Peak began falling toward the man like a heavenly pillar.
Faint claps of thunder resounded in the air when the blade moved. Following an idea that had popped up, Qianye added a wisp of void origin power into East Peak which dramatically increased the might of this push.
Zhao Guanwei was visibly moved. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and attempted to block East Peak as though his life depended on it. However, it only served to slow down the unstoppable descent of the blade. Zhao Guanwei roared thrice, each shout causing his face to flush red, but he still failed to block East Peak. His knees made crackling sounds as he finally fell kneeling onto the ground, no longer able to endure. His hands, at the moment, hung limp and powerless to his sides.
This suppressive move looked simple, but Qianye had actually activated the relic from Sky Demon’s avatar and utilized some of the origin power techniques he had gained from the ancient essence fragment, greatly increasing his power. Not only did he press Zhao Guanwei firmly to the ground, but he also destroyed his origin defenses.
Qianye stopped East Peak mid-air with a flick of his hands. Then, a segment of the blade moved out of its sheath and pressed firmly against the side of Zhao Guanwei’s neck. A slight movement could chop the man’s head off.
“How was it?” Qianye asked indifferently.
Zhao Guanwei’s expression was dismal. He had never expected such a rapid and miserable loss. His mouth moved several times before he clenched his teeth and said, “I… lost!”
“Very good!” Qianye put East Peak away and said, “Since you’ve lost, then pack up your bags and scram. As for where you’ll go, talk to the duke yourself. It’s none of my business.”
Zhao Guanwei clambered up and finally spat out a mouthful of blood. He glared hatefully at Qianye and said, “Great, we’ll see what you can do!”
He shouted at the vanguard battalion soldiers in the vicinity, “Brothers who are willing to follow me, let’s go. If this place won’t keep us, there are surely other places we can go to!”
Qianye’s expression remained unchanged as he allowed Zhao Guanwei to finish speaking. Then, East Peak moved at lightning speed and tapped lightly on his abdomen before pulling back.
The blade shot out like a bolt of lightning but was as heavy as a bolt of lightning when it was pulled back. This light tap left Zhao Guanwei hugging his abdomen with a dumb expression. Then, he gradually fell kneeling and curled up into a ball without the power to even cry out.
“Trying to incite a mutiny? You’re courting death!” Qianye sneered as he looked up at the soldiers. There were a number of people who had stepped out when Zhao Guanwei issued the call to action. They all turned pale as Qianye scanned their faces one by one.
“Battalions defying orders to form their own groups, this is the first time I’ve come to know just how lax the Zhao clan’s military management is.” Qianye’s words caused everyone to turn even paler.
Zhao clan’s military management was extremely strict and orders had to be obeyed without questions. Zhao Guanwei dared provoke Qianye in the guise of a friendly match because he had accumulated countless contributions in addition to a strong backing. The others had no such confidence. They might not even be able to keep their lives if Qianye were to continue.
These people were drenched in sweat when Qianye’s eyes moved away from them. It felt as though they had escaped from death itself. “Whoever dares take a single step out of the vanguard battalion without my orders will be charged with desertion and killed on the spot.”
The entire scene turned silent—even the high-ranking officers had their heads lowered.
Qianye’s battle with Zhao Guanwei was an establishment of his might—a demonstration of his power—but the two sentences after that proved that he was not completely ignorant about running an army. Defying orders and desertion in war weren’t just major crimes. To private soldiers of the major clans, it might even involve their families.
