[V6C116 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
The count nearby issued the command before returning to the elder’s side. He shot a glance at the image and appeared somewhat surprised. “Isn’t this the Everpeace Bai Clan’s Bai Aotu? Does she dare attack knowing full well that you’re here?”
The vampire elder squeezed out a shiver-inducing smile. “To these little fellows, I’m probably just a name in their history books. After all, living humans who had interacted with me can be counted on one hand.”
The vampire count sneered, “These short-lived humans still dare contend against our sacred-blooded race!”
The vampire elder appeared lost in thought for a moment. “Humans… they’re a weird race. Their short lives aren’t even enough for our kids to mature, but their top experts are no less powerful than ourselves. How could the eternal darkness allow such beings to exist? I truly do not understand.”
The old man said emotionally, “Not to mention me, those supreme excellencies or even Her Majesty might not be clear about their secrets.”
The count had clearly never heard such words before. He stared blankly for a moment before blurting out, “That’s impossible, right?”
The old man broke into a laugh. He didn’t pay particular heed to the count’s somewhat disrespectful words and only stared at Bai Aotu. “She’s already extremely powerful despite being just a kid. She might be able to escape even if I attack personally, especially in this rocky terrain. The Everpeace Bai Clan’s most outstanding scion will surely have some life-saving treasures on her.”
The count said meaningfully, “You won’t let her escape if she does attack Russel, will you?”
The old man chuckled. “Russel for Bai Aotu? That is quite the bargain.”
The count’s expression froze and turned pale. The old man had clearly understood his meaning, but the tone of his reply caused the former to shiver.
The old man let out a sudden sigh. “But I won’t use Russel to trade, and neither will I use you.”
The count was puzzled. He said nothing despite his astonishment and only bowed deeply at the old man.
The elder reached out to move the imagery, switching through many places on the battlefield.
At this moment, in the stronghold on the ground, Russel had already received his orders. He retracted his domain, hoisted his shield, and began edging back slowly. At this moment, thousands of dark race soldiers behind him had been driven toward the Bai clan battlefront in a suicidal attack—several dark race warriors were falling every single second.
The Bai clan losses were relatively smaller due to the cover of their defensive structures. However, they were also bleeding little by little. The already brittle defensive lines began wavering in the wind and rain. The only reason the army morale hadn’t collapsed already was because they were completely surrounded and had no other path of retreat.
During the retreat, Russel placed his defensive focus upon Qianye while sparing a bit of extra attention for Bai Kongzhao. As for the other Bai clan warriors, none of them could enter his eyes.
Qianye didn’t chase after him, either. The vampire count’s level and defenses were both superior to him, and he also possessed auric flame blood. Had this battle continued, it would only become a drawn-out stalemate despite the Bai clan’s fire-support. Qianye’s East Peak had struck out many times at full-force but only managed to leave some marks on the man’s giant shield. At present at least, there was no way to break it apart.
A Bai clan officer arrived hurriedly after Russel had fallen back into the dark race army. Qianye exchanged a couple of words with him before diving back into the dark race army, a tide of blood accompanying him wherever he went.
Bai Aotu suddenly stood up within that small, dark room. She clenched her fists as her flickering gaze pierced through the wall toward Russel’s direction. But in the end, she didn’t take action and merely let the man retreat back to the rear lines.
She had a vague feeling that a pair of eyes were staring at her and that this existence would take action the moment she moved. She had been holding back since the beginning of the battle because she was waiting for the commander aboard the vampire warship to appear.
Only a battle between experts could decide the final outcome of the battle.
Bai Aotu loosened her fist and finally sat down on the wooden chair with closed eyes. She had to wait because that was the only thing she could do.
The killing continued along the stronghold walls. The blood there had accumulated into countless streams which crawled over the gravel. More and more soldiers fell down and corpses began to pile up.
Qianye no longer remembered how many lives he had taken. Eventually, East Peak, which had always been like an extension of his own arm, grew heavier and heavier. Swinging it began to take more and more effort. Most of the time, he would drag the blade on the ground while using the vampiric blade to kill the enemy soldiers. He would only use the heavy blade when encountering powerful enemies.
A werewolf leaped high into the sky and pounced onto Qianye. The massive impact caused him to fall to the ground. One man and one wolf tumbled several times on the ground before Qianye managed to push him away and clamber up.
The vampiric blade in Qianye’s hand had pierced into the lunging werewolf’s heart inches before contact. And while rolling on the ground, the werewolf’s massive body helped him block out the dark race line of fire.
The only problem was that the wolf’s blood had splashed all over Qianye’s face, and his vision was now filled with a hazy red. Qianye wiped his face with all his might and gradually regained clarity of vision.
Unknowingly, there were only three Bai clan soldiers left in the vicinity. There was an entire reinforced company here when he joined the battle.
Qianye took a step back in order to evade a burning metallic frame that was falling down, nearly tripping over something in the process. He looked down and found that it was a werewolf body, and that dark red fur looked rather familiar to him—it was a werewolf who had died to his sword awhile ago.
There was more than just one corpse around him. The stacked carcasses of the dark race and Bai clan soldiers almost filled the battlefield.
Qianye couldn’t help but let out a couple of coughs as a sweet, fishy smell welled up from his throat. It was a sign of complete physical exhaustion, something he hadn’t felt for a very long time.
His origin power hadn’t hit rock bottom, but his physical body had been overdrafted since most of his kills were against ordinary dark race soldiers. Toward the end, he was more or less holding this segment of the defensive line on his own.
The fights were fairly mechanical—he would kill an enemy in one strike then move onto the next. Qianye knew he couldn’t retreat because once he had taken a step back, the enemy forces would charge in through this line and bypass a large part of the defensive line. Even more lives would need to be sacrificed in order to stopper this hole.
It was just like how things were going on in the other segments of the stronghold’s defensive line.
Qianye exhaled lightly with a wry smile. He then felled a charging cannon fodder before observing the situation in his surroundings. He was too close to the Bai clan defensive line to use Life Plunder.
In truth, with the shadow of that giant warship looming over him, Qianye didn’t even dare use his vampiric blade to draw blood. He could only absorb a small amount of blood energy under the cover of close quarter combat, but this was far from enough. He simply couldn’t meet the requirements for a state of blood boil.
All he could rely on at this point apart from his vampiric constitution were the few doses of military-use stimulants he had left.
On the western side of the battlefield, Bai Longjia had just swooped down from the tower to kill two dark race viscounts. Immediately afterward, he rose and flew back onto the command tower. There was a pair of snow white wings flapping slowly behind him and blood dripping down from his platinum gloves. At this point in the battle, the Bai clan had no more mobile forces left and even the general himself had to enter the battle.
Bai Longjia paused ever so slightly as he stepped into the tower. He cast his gaze toward the giant warship in the sky and then at Qianye’s battlefield.
After gazing there for a moment, he beckoned his personal guards and pointed at Qianye. “You three, reinforce that area with a small squad.”
The guards affirmed the command and sped down the tower, leaving very few figures on the lonely tower.
Someone nearby said hesitantly, “Second Young Master, you need to leave some men near you.”
Without bothering to comment, Bai Longjia gazed at the distant Qianye and asked, “Did the reports from below say he’s that Qianye from the Zhao clan?”
“He claims to be Qianye, but the insignia on his uniform is from…the Jingtang Li Clan.”
Bai Longjia stared blankly at the guard captain and saw that the other party was equally puzzled. The Zhao clan warzone wasn’t adjacent to the Desert Valley, so it was surprising for Qianye to appear here. It did make some sense if he had arrived from the Jingtang Li Clan’s Misty Wood.
After a short break, the dark race soldiers launched yet another wave of attacks. Hence, Bai Longjia could no longer afford to be distracted and proceeded to assume control of the battle once more.
Qianye had just stabbed a stimulant into his leg when a charging battle cry rang out from the front. He couldn’t help but mumble some profanities and raise his spirits. He killed off several dark race soldiers in succession and managed to push back the advancing troops.
“General Qianye, we’re coming!”
Qianye looked back and found that his so-called reinforcements only included three people with decent fighting power. Moreover, they were all wounded. However, they were different from the other soldiers in that they were wearing the decorations of the Broken-Winged Angels in addition to Bai clan insignias. They were probably Bai Longjia’s personal guards.
Upon seeing them, Qianye realized how grave the Bai clan’s situation was. Even the commander’s personal guards had been dispatched—this meant that Bai Longjia really had no more manpower. But with the Bai clan’s foundations, why had no reinforcements arrived even at this point? The dark race landing force would need to be colossal for the other Bai clan strongholds to be under similar attacks. No matter how secretive their hidden aces were, it should be time to bring them out.
These thoughts spun through Qianye’s heart, but he didn’t ask about them. He simply pointed toward the front and shouted, “Follow me, we’ll go do those bastards in!”
On the verge of life and death, a single “follow me” was best able to lift the soldiers’ spirits. The Bai clan soldiers around him responded with a loud roar as they charged into the enemy formation behind Qianye, starting a fierce massacre.
The dark races also knew fear and exhaustion. Wherever he went, Qianye was followed by a rain of blood, along with flying limbs and flesh. At this moment, he was even more terrifying than a giant warbeast. The troops were finally overcome by fear and receded like the tide. The commanding officer’s shouts had no effect at all apart from revealing his position.
Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and, without fear of wasting origin power, blasted that officer’s head off. And hence, the dark race assault was once again pushed back.
He retreated into the inner walls of the stronghold and found a space where he could put down his feet. There, he leaned on a surviving wall and found some respite.
It was at this time that a lingering metallic frame crashed downward, and Bai Kongzhao walked out from behind. She was now less than ten meters from Qianye.
