Qianye was also having a headache. The decision was easy to make, but the implementation was difficult. He would just have to play it by ear now.
Regarding this matter, the higher-ups of Dark Flame couldn’t come up with any good suggestions. Some of them were also holding back from making suggestions. The only one who could help Qianye, Song Zining, was tied down far away in the Empire.
Qianye tossed these distracting thoughts to one side and said after some thought, “The current mission is to take down the second Wolf Fang Fortress. Now that we have Count Eiseka, who can contact his tribesmen in the fortress, our objective is to control casualties and damage to the structure.”
Dark Flame possessed the absolute advantage in air superiority, so victory was not a problem. What Qianye wanted was an intact fortress to form a circle of fortresses with Pagoda City, allowing them to defend a wide region spanning several hundred kilometers.
Construction always required more energy, time, and resources compared to destruction. If he could obtain an intact fortress, that was a profit in and of itself. Hence, no one objected to Qianye’s objective.
At dawn the next day, Qianye began the assault on the second fortress. Just like before, he handled the main cannon alone. Two out of the three werewolf counts in the stronghold were fierce and unyielding. They chose to fight to the bitter end until they fell to Qianye’s blade. The tremendous difference in military power made their sacrifice futile.
The other werewolf count from Eiseka’s tribe only offered token resistance and surrendered once the other two were dead.
The werewolf, however, noticed that Qianye’s gaze looked a bit regretful; it was as though the man wanted him to resist. This once-brave werewolf felt all of his hair stand on end as he pressed his head against the ground, praying that Qianye would not be like those Evernight experts who took pleasure in tormenting others.
Qianye looked away after a moment of regret, his pupils returning to their normal color. “Get up and round up your men, tell them to drop their weapons and assemble at the designated location.”
“Yes, Sire!” The werewolf count was especially respectful.
Even a virtuous count like Eiseka had already surrendered, so an ordinary count like him had no room for any resistance. Since Qianye had promised the survival of their tribe, there was even less of a reason to resist.
The werewolf count’s observation wasn’t bad, but the reason was far from what he had imagined. Qianye’s regret was born of his longing for another battle. When he killed the two counts, he discovered that his origin power was actually showing signs of improvement, inching toward condensation.
It would seem that to crystallize his origin condensate and progress to the divine champion realm, he would need to rely on external forces. Just as a divine weapon had to be tampered thousands of times, he would have to use the pressure from combat as the hammer, and his body as the weapon to produce crystallization.
Venus Dawn’s grade was so high that it was fairly close to the Daybreak origin. Even in its fluid form, it was more powerful than most divine champions’ crystal state. It would take countless years if he were to do it on his own.
It was just that counts could hardly pose a threat to him and thus limited assistance. If he wanted to encounter stronger enemies, he would have to head to the Jade Sea. The most powerful expert in the great corridor was a werewolf marquis—he was reportedly quite old, and his true combat strength might not even compare to Eiseka’s.
The second fortress’ post-occupation matters weren’t yet done when Qianye’s mind was already drifting to the Jade Sea. The only uncertain thing was that even Eiseka had no idea if the legends about the Jade Sea—about a duke’s secluded abode—were true.
Most of the werewolves on Fort Continent remained in their primitive tribal state. Perhaps this was the earliest form of an emirate. The tribes were also fairly isolated from one another, with news and information spreading mainly by word of mouth. Generally, there were no newspapers or the like used across the continent. Some mercenary organizations thus became the most efficient source of news with the greatest coverage. Of course, one could not expect too much regarding their quality.
The absence of information channels actually proved that werewolves didn’t need a unified life. They were satisfied with their current tribal system, and there were few natural enemies on Fort Continent. Apart from the human nation of Zheng and some areas under arachne control, the rest had no presentable racial power.
It was near impossible to reach the duke-rank in cultivation, but as a branch that had been half-abandoned by the Evernight faction, their goal was never that high, either.
Hence, the ancestral sect was highly popular on Fort Continent and the Summit of Peaks had little influence. Only a handful of experts in Eiseka’s tribe had even heard of the Summit of Peaks.
Since his target was the Jade Sea, Qianye decided not to waste too much time in the great corridor. In the days that followed, the work at the fortresses hadn’t even been rounded up when the flames of battle spread across the entire corridor front.
Xu Jingxuan’s new army and Eiseka’s tribe swept through the dark races within the great corridor, uprooting all those who dared resist. The bigger and more powerful tribes would call for Dark Flame to mobilize. Qianye’s elite mercenaries were already accustomed to working together with the warships. Even the two Wolf Fang Fortresses couldn’t last a day under the impact, so how long could an ordinary werewolf tribe last?
The occasional expert that popped up wasn’t a match for Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka. Qianye didn’t even need to take action.
The sweep was so successful that it was progressing at over ten kilometers a day. They could go faster, but Qianye’s forces were short in number. Even ten thousand people hadn’t caused much of a splash back when they were spread out into Expansive.
In this week’s time, Qianye was overseeing the Wolf Fang Fortress, cultivating and checking battle reports. His days suddenly became quite leisurely.
It wasn’t as though he was entirely free of trouble. For instance, Song Hui would come to him three times a day, bringing up a troublesome topic each time. What was their next step now that more and more werewolves were surrendering?
Qianye had, at first, thought that the number of werewolves he could recruit was rather limited. Eiseka’s tribe had over ten thousand werewolves, and that was already a major tribe.
They had just finished cleaning up the regions near the fortresses, but the number of surrendering dark races was an order of magnitude greater than what Qianye had expected. In fact, it was still growing at an alarming rate.
Once the number of forces swearing fealty to him exceeded fifty thousand, Qianye couldn’t bear it anymore. He summoned all of the generals back and asked, “What’s going on? Don’t tell me all the dark races in the great corridor have submitted?”
The mercenaries kept their silence with odd expressions.
Xu Jingxuan knew he couldn’t escape, so he braced himself and said, “Sire, not every tribe surrendered. Some offered resistance and have been destroyed. Some have escaped, while the rest surrendered.”
Qianye knew something was off. “Give me numbers!”
Xu Jingxuan no longer dared to play dumb in the face of Qianye’s anger. “Eighty percent of all tribes surrendered to us, fifteen percent have fled, and only five percent that offered any resistance was destroyed.”
“Why are there so many? Was it the same before?” Qianye had done his homework before the expedition. He had called up a decade of battle reports to get a grasp of the situation on the continent. From what he remembered, all the tribes big and small would fight back or flee whenever Zheng’s army pushed into the great corridor. There was virtually no tribe that had surrendered.
Having reached this point in the conversation, Xu Jingxuan pointed at Eiseka. “Ask him, Sire.”
Eiseka got down on one knee. “In order to expedite our campaign, I sent people to each tribe to announce your greatness, and many were willing to come under your glory.”
Qianye felt that something was wrong here. “What did you tell them?”
Eiseka said with an unchanged expression, “I told them that you, Sire, stand at the origins of darkness and would soon become the master of the entire Evernight world, that you are the legendary god of war who would lead us as we break out of this cage. I also announced that you had already killed the king of the Jade Sea as the starting point of your Evernight expedition.”
Qianye was stunned as he listened to these words.
Throughout the ages, a common language had developed between all the different races, but only those of a certain status would be able to learn or grasp it. The nobles would still revert to using the ancient language when mentioning certain names or in special situations. This allowed them to accurately express their traditions and words that only existed in the ancient language.
This was true for several parts of Eiseka’s recount, where he had to explain certain points for Qianye to get a general understanding. It wasn’t hard to guess that the announcement was pure demagogy.
How was this the description of a person? It was more fitting to describe a god! Even the Queen of the Night couldn’t touch the origins of darkness just yet. This Eiseka didn’t seem like the type to think before making statements.
The only reliable fact in all that boasting was the killing of the king of the Jade Sea. However, Qianye seemed to remember that this king was a duke?
Even if he was just a vice-duke, that was still a major level between him and a glorious marquis. Up to this point, Qianye had never killed a duke before. He had defeated some before, but that was a culmination of many factors. According to Eiseka, however, he was killing dukes as though they were chickens.
Qianye rubbed his temples. “And they believe all that you say?”
Eiseka’s expression was radiant. “Even I believe it, why wouldn’t they?”
Qianye cursed secretly. He had somehow forgotten the fact that werewolves revered powerful experts. The more primitive the society, the more pronounced this effect was—ordinary warriors would blindly believe the words of experts and shamans. Considering Eiseka’s position and strength, it was natural that a good number of people would believe him. It was just that eighty percent of all enemies swearing fealty was way beyond expectations. Apparently, all that talk of whatever legend was quite useful.
Seeing Qianye’s expression, Eiseka added, “Sire, your legend is already beginning to spread. If there are no accidents, many more tribes will come under your banner, and you won’t need to spend so much effort.”
Qianye felt more of a headache. “How many is ‘many’?”
“There are close to four-hundred thousand tribal members in the great corridor. Before long, I expect you will gain three hundred thousand followers.”
Eiseka spoke respectfully, but Qianye was feeling utterly helpless. The total population of Zheng in the great corridor was less than two hundred thousand, much less than the werewolves.
“Did you tell them that their status will be below that of humans after they submit to me?”
At that moment, Qianye’s gaze was as sharp as a blade, yet Eiseka came prepared. “Only those who sow shall reap, there will be no quarry without hunter’s scars. Land and food only come to those who accumulate merits. All werewolves understand this. We’re willing to bleed and sweat on your behalf, to obtain status in exchange for contributions. It doesn’t matter where we start, even a slave can become a warrior one day.”
This reply left Qianye with nothing to say.
After some thought, he dismissed the generals and Eiseka, leaving only Song Lun, Song Hui, and Xu Jingxuan. “What do I do with three hundred thousand werewolves?”
