Qianye walked forward as though he were treading through the endless plains of time. There was no future, no past. His existence, in and of itself, was cold and meaningless.
A pat on his shoulder woke Qianye from his reverie. It wasn’t easy to approach people at his level of awareness. Without even thinking, he immediately swung his elbow back out of reflex.
The person behind him was also prepared. He raised his arm to block the incoming attack but was still sent flying from the impact.
This attack involved a clash of origin powers, but the explosion wasn’t as loud as one would expect. Qianye felt wave after wave of transforming origin power strike him, cutting up his own energy with each transformation. Although Qianye’s origin power was so pure that it couldn’t be dissolved, its power was greatly reduced after being split up.
It was just that Qianye’s attack contained his own surging strength in addition to origin power. How could the person behind withstand such an attack? He was sent flying despite his intricate use of origin power.
Qianye immediately realized something was wrong when he noticed the complicated manipulation of origin power, and he quickly held back the follow-up attacks. This was the first time he had encountered Worldly Prosperity in person. It was indeed a wondrous power made by the heavens.
He turned back with a sigh. “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you call out to me? Are you hurt?”
With a wry smile, Song Zining drifted back to the ground in three steps. “I called your name several times, but you didn’t respond. I’m okay. I’ll have to quit my line of work if I’m so easily injured. But damn, you really don’t hold back!”
Qianye replied, “It wasn’t intentional.”
Song Zining shook his head. “I was going to ask what happened between you two, but I don’t think I need to anymore after seeing you in this state.”
Qianye revealed a bitter smile. “Yes, there’s no need. There are some things I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand? I might be able to help you analyze the situation.”
Qianye decided not to leave. He looked around for a place to sit and recounted his last conversation with Nighteye. “I don’t understand what this new world is, and what it has to do with our relationship.”
Song Zining also sat down. “I understand now, it’s time. She said the reason is time, right?”
Qianye nodded.
“There has also been rumors of a new world among the upper echelons of the Empire. Reportedly, it contains the secrets to the grand origins of darkness origin power, and the first thing to be sensed was the River of Blood. One can easily imagine how this new world would make the dark races go crazy. Information we received from the other side proved this fact. The dark race powerhouses are already in action, preparing to pioneer this new world. As for Nighteye, I still haven’t been able to investigate her past identity, but there’s no way she would sit out given her current fighting power.”
Qianye listened quietly.
Song Zining said, “She’s always talked about returning to the Sacred Mountain. If this new world does hide the legendary secrets of the darkness grand origin and the River of Blood, it might be the key to restoring her full strength. You don’t currently have the power to interfere in this endeavor, and that’s what she meant by time. You were born ten years too late.”
After finally realizing the reason, Qianye felt even more bitter instead of feeling relieved. Compared to fruitless efforts, the lack of an opportunity was even more sorrowful.
Song Zining patted Qianye’s shoulders lightly. “It’s not entirely hopeless though.”
“Ah, how so?” Qianye became spirited.
“Although we don’t know how the seats are replaced on the Sacred Mountain, those holding the position are all top characters of each race. It’s natural to assume that a candidate would need a mighty force in addition to personal strength, in order to ascend the mountain. Do you remember why I arrived in the neutral lands to help you rebuild Dark Flame and even construct a fleet? It’s to build a neutral force that belongs to us, one that can stand between the Empire and Evernight. We might be of some help to her if our force has developed to a certain degree, or if we manage to build a country by the time she returns from the new world.”
“What will we do if she returns quickly?” Qianye became quite worrisome.
Song Zining said, “How can developing a new world be so fast? It would be even harder to obtain the secrets of the River of Blood. The dark races are considered long-lived creatures. She might not be done yet by the time we’re strong enough to enter the new world.”
Qianye’s mood was boosted ever so slightly. “Then what should I do now?”
“Of course we should try hard! Do you need me to teach you?”
Fighting spirit slowly manifested in Qianye’s chest, and his cold world became much warmer in comparison. Yes, what was the use of complaining if she had always been there on the indiscernible horizon? That was her world, to begin with. What he had to do was try hard to reach the top and stand by her side, not drag her down into the dust with him.
With his hope kindled, Qianye’s frozen emotions came back to life and that was when he remembered something. He dragged Song Zining over and, looking him in the eye, asked word by word, “Spit it out. What did you do to make her try to kill you?”
Song Zining chuckled. “She’s so powerful, what can I even do to her?”
His laugh was evidently guilty, and Qianye wasn’t about to let him off so easily. He lifted Song Zining off the ground with a cold laugh and shook him about.
The way he shook the seventh young master was well-planned—every rise and fall was akin to the tides and contained a reverberating force. Torrential waves of power slammed into Song Zining until he was dizzy and close to throwing up whatever he had eaten the day before. This move made use of the Profound Combatant Formula’s vortex power. Qianye’s skilled control kept the damage to a minimum, but the vast energy wasn’t reduced in the slightest. Even a champion would feel extremely uncomfortable when swept into the void, fairly similar to what Song Zining was feeling right now.
Song Zining realized something was wrong the moment the torrential power rose up. He flailed his arms about, shouting, “Let… Let go of me…”
Qianye pretended not to hear. Apparently, he wasn’t going to let him down until the seventh young master promised to spit out the truth.
“Stop! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
Qianye let him down with a couple of rough shakes.
Song Zining retched as soon as his foot hit the ground, and it took a good while for the pale young man to recover. He patted his chest in anger, saying, “Qianye, this is torture! Are we still brothers or not?”
“How else do I make you talk?”
Song Zining said furiously, “Fine, so that’s how you treat me.”
“Do you want to shake ten more minutes?” Qianye was expressionless.
Song Zining stared at him for a good while. Finally realizing that the other party was serious, he said, “Qianye, we’re brothers. Whatever I do is for your own good. Otherwise, there was no need for me to bring Ningyuan Heavy Industries here to build airships. Everything I’d accumulated throughout the years is in Ningyuan.”
Qianye was touched, his heart filled with complicated emotions.
Song Zining said solemnly, “There are some things I don’t want to tell you, and you don’t want to know them. Trust me and don’t ask. Do as I told you just now and you might have a small chance. If you must follow through to the end, then just kill me and take Ningyuan Heavy Industries.”
Qianye was startled because he hadn’t imagined Song Zining would actually say such things. He stared at the unfamiliar expression on that familiar face. Perhaps it wasn’t really that unfamiliar—this was the seventh young master who had removed the mask of nobility, that Song Zining from Yellow Springs.
Qianye remembered many things from the past. He and Song Zining were two completely different people who had partnered up in Yellow Springs. After drawing lots during the first examination—perhaps out of tacit understanding or otherwise—both of them had chosen to forfeit the points gained from killing their partner. Instead, they chose to walk on the blade’s edge and held out until the last minute, scoring countless kills to compensate for their choice.
From then on, they had walked while supporting one another. Even when Qianye was tormented by blood poison and at risk of turning into an animal, he trusted Song Zining the most—a brother he could trust with his life.
Who would’ve thought they would lay their cards on the table in such a manner.
Qianye exhaled gently. “Should I believe you?”
“You decide.” Song Zining closed his eyes, ready to be slaughtered.
Qianye remained silent for a while before laughing ruefully. “If I don’t trust you… let it be. I won’t ask anymore. From now on, I…”
“You will fight for yourself!” Song Zining said resolutely.
“Let’s go back to Southern Blue.”
The duo boarded the airship back to Southern Blue, no longer touching the previous subject.
Along the way, Qianye gave Song Zining a rundown of developments in the city.
Song Zining found it surprisingly funny. “You actually took up the title of city lord. What should I do with you?”
“I don’t fear the Wolf King, nor anyone else Zhang Buzhou can dispatch. I made him admit my title so that he will renege one day.”
Song Zining was surprised. “You want to shake his reputation? Your ambitions aren’t small.”
“Ambitions?”
Seeing that Qianye was puzzled, Song Zining said, “What’s the use of attacking his reputation if you don’t want to replace him?”
Thinking back to that elbow strike from just now, Song Zining finally realized something. “Your combat strength has increased again?”
“My cultivation is still the same,” Qianye spoke the truth.
“Nonsense, try punching me.”
Qianye hesitated for a bit before gathering force to throw a punch at Song Zining.
Song Zining was shocked. He actually found, in that punch, the evolution of the universe and an intent similar to Worldly Prosperity! Just touching upon this knowledge brought about a new world and set it apart from every other martial path.
“Is this the dao?” Song Zining muttered to himself. He raised his hand midway but fell into deep thought and forgot to block.
Shocked, Qianye stopped his attack urgently. But how could it be easy to stop the evolution of the universe? Even he himself couldn’t quite control the attack when utilizing the intent on the Book of Darkness.
An unadorned, primal force smashed into Song Zining.
Song Zining was flung away like a cut-off kite, spraying blood in the air. The blood produced a strange phenomenon as the sanguine beads permeated in every direction. He had used this mouthful of blood to divide the origin power entering his body and expel the invasive energy.
This was a wondrous ability afforded by Worldly Prosperity, allowing the user to turn a lethal blow into heavy injury, or a heavy injury into a light injury. One could consider this a defensive concept. At his current realm, Song Zining’s body was finally no longer weak.
“Are you alright?” Qianye tried to grab Song Zining with a wisp of origin power.
However, Song Zining’s body divided, stored, and sprayed out the incoming energy as blood.
Qianye stopped in shock. Song Zining wiped the blood away from his mouth and said, “It seems our origin powers are not compatible. Don’t help me in the future, I don’t have much blood left.”
