[V6C122 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye was deep in thought after putting down the battle reports. One could see the characteristics of each major clan from the current situation.
The Zhang clan was just as tyrannical as before, taking the sole lead in the Blacklight warzone without seeking any help from the other aristocracy. The Bai clan, too, aimed for the skies by seeking to dominate Desert Valley on its own. It too didn’t invite the other nobility to form alliances, only opting to offer high bounties to independent experts like Qianye.
However, the Evernight faction’s offensive was much fiercer than anyone had expected. Even the Zhang clan could barely stabilize the situation. The Bai clan was even worse—they had effectively lost their frontline fortress in a single battle.
Comparatively, the Song clan was hidden behind the Bai clan. They continued recruiting on a large scale, apparently seeking to pave the way to a new territory with gold coins.
The Zhao clan’s course of action was thought-provoking. It was a rare occasion in which they didn’t compete with the Bai clan. Not only did they pass on a strategically positioned warzone like Desert Valley that was rich in mineral resources, but also chose to settle in one of the most remote warzones. At the same time, they were just as arrogant and aloof, inviting only a number of powerful aristocratic families to garrison therein. The Yin family and Wei clan were among them.
Additionally, the Zhao clan was in no rush to push further in after landing. Instead, they began constructing three large fortresses in a tight formation and seemed to be adopting a defensive stance.
As for the imperial court, they shouldered the most difficult of warzones, the central underground maze region and the Crimson Fjord where the dark race base was located. Their ambitions were just as great.
The situation at the Jingtang Li Clan’s warzone was complicated. The Misty Wood’s entire scope was actually shaped like a loop which encircled the central underground maze region and was thus adjacent to almost all the warzones.
The unique environment made it difficult to deploy large armies here. However, it was a haven for expert hunters. Additionally, the empress’ family revealed their lofty ambitions once again by inviting a great number of aristocratic families and experts, turning almost no one away. The power they had concentrated had, at least on paper, surpassed the Zhao, Bai, and Song clans—only inferior to the Zhang clan and imperial court.
Qianye felt fairly anxious after observing the current situation. Pessimistically speaking, the Blacklight Warzone would eventually fall should the dark races keep up this momentum. With little terrain advantage to rely on, the Full Moon Plains wouldn’t last long, either. In the end, the entire imperial army might be pushed back to the Zhao clan warzone and thereafter enter a war of attrition. The Misty Wood, on the other hand, was a natural battleground for experts. The battles there might actually go on until the very end.
Sighing lightly, Qianye returned the report to the female officer and asked, “Where do I exchange contributions?”
“Please follow me.” The lady led Qianye toward an area at the back where several officers were seated at the entrance of a warehouse. They were in charge of registering and submitting proof of contribution.
The rules regarding the inspection of contributions was a familiar process. Qianye didn’t say much and only passed his backpack over. Within it were objects for identity verification like vampiric fangs and identity insignias.
His contributions had been tallied up after a while, and the person in charge passed Qianye a list saying, “A total of six barons worth of contribution points. Please take a look and see if it’s correct.”
Qianye waved his hand and said, “No need. That’s more or less all of it.”
The batch he had submitted was his harvest in the Misty Wood, most of them were kills he had racked up when he had just arrived on the floating continent. Compared to the raging battles in the other warzones, the Misty Wood appeared exceptionally calm. Qianye only encountered two patrol squads and no other decent combat squads.
“Do you wish to deposit our points or exchange them right away? According to the rules, if you exchange now, you can exchange for materials at the rate of two fourth-class merits.”
Qianye had long since formed an answer. “Convert all of them to Mithril Bullets of Exorcism, half between sniper and handgun rounds.”
“No problem.”
The warehouse was just behind the contribution registration room and ammunition wasn’t an overly valuable resource. Four boxes of mithril bullets soon appeared in front of Qianye, a total of ten sniper and twelve handgun rounds.
Qianye was fairly satisfied after checking the inventory. The Mithril Bullets of Exorcism provided by the Li family were fairly high in quality—they were at least twenty percent more expensive than the ones provided by the empire. Just this alone would equate to a twenty percent rise in contribution points. It would seem the Li family was prepared to do something big.
He was just about to pack things up when a sinister voice rang out from behind, “Oh, if it isn’t Sire Qianye? You must’ve had a great harvest! Why don’t you widen my horizons?”
Qianye didn’t need to turn back to know that it was Du Li.
At this moment, Du Li was walking into the contribution exchange area with a couple of others. The men behind him possessed deep auras corresponding to three or four origin vortices. Du Li’s cultivation wasn’t that bad, either, but judging from how he was walking along the side, it was obvious that his position wasn’t that high.
Qianye hadn’t seen any of the others aside from the man, but that wasn’t strange, either. With how wide and populous the empire was, there was no telling how many powerful independent experts there were. It was just that this group was powerful enough to raise eyebrows.
Du Li broke into a laugh as his gaze fell upon the ammunition box. “Oh, Sire Qianye, am I seeing things? Are these refined silver bullets?”
Mithril and Refined Silver wasn’t on the same level at all—one could differentiate between the two at a glance. How could anyone make a mistake?
Qianye remained calm as he placed the bullets into his bag and glanced over at Du Li. “Do I need to teach you how to tell bullets apart?”
Du Li’s smile froze and was soon consumed by a surge of fury. He sneered, “Qianye, I’m trying to give you some face here. How can you have the cheek to exchange a mere fourth-rate merit? Everyone is from the same warzone, so you should scram if you don’t have the skills. Stop wasting your days here. We don’t need useless people!”
Qianye’s eyes swept past these people, paying special attention to their bulging backpacks—it would seem their harvest was extraordinary. These five people had formed a group and were operating together.
After seeing what was going on, Qianye shot Du Li a glance and said, “How I fight is none of your business.”
Du Li’s face turned green. He could no longer hold back and proceeded to block Qianye’s path with his gun drawn. They were so close that their noses were almost touching.
Killing intent was practically gushing out of Du Li’s eyes. Qianye, on the other hand, was rather calm and had a smile on his face. On closer inspection, however, one would find a frosty intent hidden within the smile.
Qianye said indifferently, “Are you looking to die?”
Blood gushed up Du Li’s face. He was just about to flip out when a large burly man from his group dragged him back.
Du Li was on par with that burly man in terms of origin power rank, yet he was being hauled around like a helpless little chicken.
That burly man wasn’t quite prominent at first among the five. Qianye glanced over at this point and felt his vision being filled with a bright radiance—it was as though a bright bolt of lightning had flashed past. Even the spectators nearby were almost blinded and had to take a couple of steps back.
Qianye remained in place without the slightest change in his expression. Only his eyes flowed with a blue light akin to the deep seas, but the hue quickly receded without forming any seasprays.
The burly man was somewhat surprised, and his gaze became serious. He sized Qianye up from head to toe before saying, “Isn’t it somewhat inexcusable for someone of your combat strength to gain only this much?”
Qianye glanced back at the burly man. The latter’s heart trembled, and for some reason, he felt as though he had been seen through entirely.
At this point, the blue in Qianye’s eyes receded. “It’s my business how I fight. You just mind your own business.”
Killing intent flickered in the man’s eyes. “Fine! You be careful if we ever meet on the battlefield.”
“Same to you.” Qianye left after offering the same warning. Intentionally or otherwise, he shot Du Li a glance as he passed by.
The latter watched Qianye’s figure depart, feeling weird from head to toe. Then, he suddenly realized that Qianye’s gaze was akin to looking at a dead man.
Di Li began stomping about in anger after realizing this, but he shrunk back obediently as the burly man looked over.
After leaving the exchange area, Qianye recalled the locations of the open facilities and proceeded toward a certain corner of the camp. This area was clearly different from the other parts. The atmosphere here was much more relaxed and clamorous. Not only were there bars and inns, but there was even a brothel and an arena. Apparently, it was provided for guest experts to relax.
Qianye walked in with confident steps and ordered a bottle of wine. There, he began drinking slowly as he waited for sundown—night time was when he would go out to battle once more.
He hadn’t sat very long when a lady appeared in front of him. It was Zhu Huan.
“I heard you provoked Lu Sha. Why?” Zhu Huan inquired.
“Lu Sha, who’s that?” Qianye hadn’t heard of this name before.
“You don’t know him? Oh, I understand now. It must be Du Li stirring things up in the middle!” Zhu Huan slapped the table.
“Oh? Who is that?” Someone Zhu Huan had mentioned so seriously had to be skilled, but Qianye’s tone was still quite indifferent.
“Lu Sha has been famous for a long time. He was already a notorious mercenary and bounty hunter decades ago, known for being vengeful. At one point, he had hunted down a target for four whole months just because of a small trade argument and killed off all of his family members.” At this point, Zhu Huan’s eyes were full of fear.
She grabbed Qianye’s glass and emptied it. “Work with me. We might have a chance at killing him if we work together.”
Qianye ordered another bottle with a smile and poured a glass for Zhu Huan. “There’s no rush for that. Tell me more about this Lu Sha.”
Zhu Huan didn’t hesitate to explain the entire situation.
Lu Sha was the burly man Qianye had met just now. His operation area was fairly wide, and he had left his tracks behind in many a warzone, but he visited Evernight Continent quite often. According to Zhu Huan, Lu Sha was a typical bounty hunter and independent mercenary—cold-blooded, cruel, and very strong.
There were even cases of him killing above his level. The worst part was that Lu Sha wasn’t alone but had a squad he had been working together with for over ten years. This unit had even beheaded counts during this period. One had to know that count-rank casualties weren’t high except in large battles or other special circumstances. At such a level, winning against one didn’t equate to killing one.
Du Li was also a member, but he was just an ordinary one. Be it from past accomplishments or Du Li’s attitude from just now, it was clear that Lu Sha’s combat strength was far above what it seemed on the surface.
Zhu Huan stalked for a long while but found Qianye still as calm as ever. His eyes were somewhat cloudy from the alcohol and seemed like he wasn’t paying attention to all of this.
She stared blankly for a moment, and then banged fiercely on the table. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
